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New Depression and Anxiety Info:
"Learning to Love Yourself" |
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Learning to truly love yourself
is the single most important thing you could ever achieve through
the process of psychotherapy for depression or anxiety.
Everything else dims in comparison to the profound effect
healthy self-love has on an individual. When you honestly love
yourself, your entire life begins to feel like you’re swimming in
the gentle flow of a loving river. Self-love helps you make healthy
choices. It allows you to give and receive love in loving,
supportive relationships. It gives you the self-esteem to believe in
your abilities and pursue your dreams. Self-love helps you take care
of yourself and set healthy boundaries with others. Self-love is the
structure that supports a healthy life. One way you learn to love yourself is through recognizing and expressing your feelings and your needs. It’s not important at the beginning to express those feelings to the people who actually hurt you, but it’s very important to find people who are safe to talk to about what you really feel. At the start the feelings that have been bottled up inside tend to come out very intensely and they can sometimes feel overwhelming, but over time, as you release the pent-up feelings from the past, it becomes easier to express your feelings with kindness and compassion rather than blame and attack. When you learn to effectively express and release your feelings, they will always come back to love. If you don't have a person you can talk to about your feelings, you can always start with keeping a feelings journal. By writing your feelings in a journal regularly, you will become your own best friend! Homework
Assignments for Overcoming Anxiety and Depression and Achieving Self
Love
In addition to
expressing and releasing the feelings from the past, there are two
homework assignments I always give my clients who are working on
overcoming anxiety and depression through practicing consistent
self-love. The first is to
imagine yourself as a child, and get an image of that sweet,
innocent child you were back then. Then as your adult self, imagine
loving that little person the way he or she deserved to be loved.
Imagine holding and hugging the child, and saying the loving words
to him or her that you always wanted to hear. It’s important to
take your time to really be present emotionally with the child,
rather than rushing or expecting him/her to get better quickly.
Remember that “love is patient and love is kind!” Take time to
listen to the child’s feelings and imagine spending time doing
something together that he/she enjoys. The second process
is just as important, but done in a slightly different way. For this
process you look into a mirror, and look deeply into your eyes like
you would look into the eyes of someone you love dearly. As you look
deep into your eyes, you say these words: Each of these
techniques could be used on a daily basis if you are working to
overcome your anxiety or depression by learning to love yourself
more fully and completely. I’m going to challenge you do them
consistently for a month, and then write me an e-mail and tell me
what happens! I’ll bet that if you are consistent, you will see
miraculous changes in your life and in your relationships with
others!
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Kari Joys
© Copyright 2008 |
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