Speak to Yourself As You’d Speak to a Child

A Mindful Quote on Self-Love and Compassion

Photo by Ratiu Bia on Unsplash

I have been struggling with writing recently. I have been grounded and connected; peaceful and hopeful about the future. So why is it that my creativity seems to have vanished in such a positive moment in my life? Where has it gone?

When I realized that I was going through this I instantly reacted. I called myself lazy for not forcing myself to write. I even called myself a shallow, bad writer. “It doesn’t matter if you write, girl. You don’t write that well anyway.”

Well, here is my “Medusa” mind speaking. I call her Medusa because of my toxic relationship with it. We all go through this at some point.

But I’ll pass. I’m over this.

After I decided not to give my mind the attention it craved, an idea, an inspiration hit me quickly — why not write about some inspiring quotes who have uplifted you and your friends so many times? Why not start with the one about being kind to yourself as if you were talking to a child?

Bingo. It seems ultimately I could use a bit of love after being so harsh on myself. Matt Kahn’s beautiful quote came to my mind, and I hope it will be of benefit for all of you who may sometimes struggle with being kind and compassionate about yourselves.

“If it’s not the way you would talk to a child in need, it shouldn’t be the way you talk to yourself.” Matt Kahn

Matt teaches us something so simple yet so profound with those words. We all talk about kindness. Our mother told us to be kind to our neighbors. To the kid having a hard time at school. To our siblings when they were overreacting and crying. To our family and friends when they weren’t having an easy time.

But most of us weren’t taught how to be kind to ourselves. We weren’t told that it’s okay to make mistakes — even big ones. We were told people could judge us by our first impression. We were told not to be loud, not to be rude, not to be mouthy. But we weren’t told that regardless of the many attempts to fit in society, we would still make mistakes and we would still be flawed.

We weren’t told to love our flaws and our scars.