Choose Happiness Tip #5

Share the Fabulous!

We are already in week 5 of our choose happiness series! Tip#5 today! Can you believe it? How are the tips going? Are you guys trying them? Are they simple enough? Well choose happiness tip #5 is so easy! You can do it at anytime, and any place! In your car, at home, at work, out shopping,or running errands…. are you intrigued? Are you ready??

It is to tell your self you are beautiful every single day. Just that simple, looking in a mirror and telling yourself. “I am beautiful”

Now, I know that sounds too easy and at the same time very hard. How can three simple words be hard to utter?
Well most of us talk down to ourselves more than we talk up to ourselves. We go through the day and we can end up comparing ourselves to everyone we meet, even people we don’t actually meet. People on tv, in magazines, online….. it can go on.

I have caught myself on facebook or instagram thinking I wish my house looked like that, or holy cow look how cute her kids are dressed, or in the store and thinking wow, her hair is so cute, wish my hair looked like that…. if we are not careful it can go on the entire day. It can make you feel like a failure….

I have found a way that helps stop that terrible self doubt and wishing I was more…..

Every day I look in the mirror and I tell myself I am beautiful. I do it before I get all dressed with make up and my hair done and all the things that make me “pretty” I tell the simple me.

I will admit, at first it was very hard…. like look away and scoff hard. It felt prideful and like I was lying. I kept it up though. I had read that when we self talk, our brains take that as truth, so if I say ” I am a loser and a terrible person” I will believe it. If I tell myself “I am beautiful and kind” I will believe it. I want to be those good things and so I tell myself the good things. There is enough bad in the world that I do not need to contribute to it!

I will tell you, as I started doing it I felt weird, embarrassed and silly. I have and still do at times really struggle with self esteem. I am not sharing that so you feel bad for me or to get sympathy, I am telling you because well we are all friends here and I want to be real. I never felt like I fit in anywhere, church, school, even jobs. I always felt like an outsider so badly wanting to be included. It is a sad, and lonely way to feel. I decided to do something about it in my twenties, I started off by saying I am beautiful and it took awhile, but I still remember the first time I believed it. I was in olive garden ( yummy salad!) and I saw this woman walking towards me, I thought, she is really pretty, and look how happy she is. I then realized it was a mirror. I didn’t say to myself oh never mind it is just me. No, I just thought I am beautiful just the way I am. It was a wonderful moment that I have never forgotten.

We are all beautiful, we all should know that. I am not talking just about physical beauty, I am talking about all the things that make us who we are, the beauty that we have from loving our kids, or loving our spouses, from loving our families, the way we treat others, strangers, the check out gal or guy at the store. How hard we work, at a job, at home. All of the experiences both good and bad that have made us who we are. All of that makes each of us beautiful.

If we can’t love ourselves we will have a hard time loving others.

Saying I am beautiful every single day, makes me feel beautiful, makes me want to act beautiful.

It is as simple as that. I felt a little scared to write this post, I will admit I was a little relieved when my computer was acting up yesterday…. but I prayed and I know I should be honest and not worry about what any one thinks…. because It is true and it is what makes me beautiful :)

So I challenge you, Every morning, right when you wake up and before you put on your make up for the day and do all the things that you think you need to do to look pretty…. before all that, look in the mirror and smile at yourself and say out loud, I am beautiful. If you can’t do it in the morning than do it anytime you get a minute, in the car, running errands, just do it!

It changes you, I can tell you that. It changed me for good. I am not saying I still don’t struggle I do, but when I struggle I have a little voice that says, no you are beautiful. As I got better at saying I am beautiful, I added qualities that I wanted to have, I am smart, I am patient, I am kind to others. Stuart Smally had it right, ( remember him from Saturday Night Live)

We laugh and think it is funny, but I think it is a great practice to do! I think it is so important to encourage our children to do this too, as they get older, self doubt and poor self esteem can creep in… encourage them to know they are beautiful.

So I challenge you…. a simple tip of saying three simple words to make you feel happier….

Will you try it? I would love to hear about it!

I would love to hear if you are trying any of the other tips? Are you feeling happier? Do you think they are simple or hard?

If you missed the previous tips….

See you next week for Tip #6!!

Smile Book:

5 more Wednesdays left of school!

Hinckley is rolling over! Still can not get his arm out from under him! Too funny to see!