lOve sayingWe use many negative phrases when we make a mistake. Do you relate to using any of these?

•    “That was so stupid of me.”
•    “I’m a moron/idiot.”
•    “What’s wrong with me that I couldn’t get it right?”
•    “I must be a loser.”

Those are all very unloving thoughts that you probably wouldn’t have if your best friend made the mistake. Accepting that mistakes happen, and it’s okay, makes life so much better. I used to beat myself up for anything I did that wasn’t perfect when I was a DoorMat. It made me unhappy and kept my self-esteem low and would do the same to you. How can an idiot or a loser think well of her/himself?

FACT: Everyone makes mistakes! That’s part of being human. Yet we’re often much harder on ourselves than we’d be on someone we care about. Do you care about yourself? You should. And if you want to show yourself caring, accept the mistakes you make since you will make them. Respond to your mistakes with kindness and forgiveness. That lets you move on from the mistake instead of dwelling on it. Sometimes I just laugh at how silly I was to make a mistake. Getting to the point where I can do that has been a big blessing for me that reinforces my self-love.

For example, I put my own sayings on photos for The Self-Love Movement™ Facebook page. I recently posted the one in the top corner of this page. After it went up I noticed a typo. Did I go crazy? Nope! Did I call myself a nasty name? No way! I just thought “Oh well, I goofed.” No one has called me on it. If someone did, I wouldn’t care. As a matter of fact, a while back a woman wrote to tell me she found some typos in my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, which I’m giving away for free. She offered to edit it for me. I turned her down. One day I”ll fix the typos, if I can find them. But to me it’s fitting to have imperfections in a self-love love book.

Face your mistakes head on and accept them a just part of your humanness. Most mistakes won’t ruin your life unless you let them by making a bigger deal over them than necessary and letting them hurt you. Love yourself enough to accept your imperfections.
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Join the Self-Love Movement™! Take the 31 Days of Self-Love Commitment and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways for free at http://howdoiloveme.com. Read my 2013 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE. Join the Self-Love Movement™! on Facebook.

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