Comparing yourself to others

Comparison ..it’s easy to do, in fact, we probably all do it subconsciously every single day, wishing you were a little more like ‘them’ and having regular thoughts like “I'm fat. I’m ugly. I have too many wrinkles. I’m not good enough” take over your mind. You’re not alone in doing this, millions and millions of people say things just like this to themselves every single day. This is wrong. We need to be changing the conversations that we are having with ourselves. Instead, we should be saying things like “You are bold, You are beautiful, You are courageous, You are loving"....  but how? 

A gratitude list is a list of everything that is good about your life is the perfect way to start. Everything that you are thankful for. Health, Family, Friends, Career, Hobbies etc. Every time you start to feel disconnected, insecure or judgemental about yourself, how you look and the things you do ..take a look at your gratitude list to help remind yourself of the good things that you have in your life and your accomplishments. It's easy to let negative demons take over your mind and manifest if you allow them to, so if you can, try to realise what it is that makes you go from feeling 'positive' to feel 'negative' and stop it before it manifests. I urge you to invest in yourself right now. If you can learn self-care you can teach self-care. You can inspire others around you to start to love themselves too.

As humans, we’re programmed to tell each other that we are 'not fat' because too many people in society have turned the word 'fat' into a synonym for ugly. That is not true. We all have something about ourselves that society would define as 'imperfect' and tells us we should feel shame about. We think that we somehow have to magically become confident to be able to change something but really this is backward thinking. Confidence is a product of action. If we had to wait to have the confidence to do something, we would never be able to get out of bed in the morning. Confidence will come as a reward, as a building block of our actions.

We often think that being confident and being happy should be as easy as switching on a light. "Just do it, just love yourself, just be happy.” ..but it’s not that easy, it’s not like switching on a light. It's more like stumbling towards a motion sensor light, in the dark. You have to advance forward to a target that you can't see but trust that you will ultimately get there. The universe is ironic because the only thing that will turn that light on is your movement and your actions. Every time you are stumbling, scrambling and spinning you are actually doing the hard part, you are making a difference even if you can't pinpoint your progress.

As yoga teachers it's very easy nowadays to compare ourselves to other teachers, this can be based on numbers attending classes, numbers following you, number of likes on a post - but we have to remember we are unique. Just because someone else is a great yoga teacher, it doesn’t mean what you offer isn’t great too or you’re any less of a teacher than them!

It starts by becoming your own role model, by being kind to yourself. It’s only in our lowest moments of insecurity that you realise that I have to reclaim your body, mind and spirit and everything about you as you own. It is incredibly important that both men and women create a positive environment for themselves and each other. Most of us sit around waiting for permission, affirmation or some significant other to swoop in and tell us that we are worthy but it doesn't have to be that way, it shouldn't be that way. It is always, always your decision.  

Want to know more?

Want to know more about us - visit our website www.yogacourse.com for all the yoga teacher training we offer!