Something just happened that made me feel like I needed to drop what I was doing and write this post IMMEDIATELY. See, I’ve been doing an awful lot of reading lately, and one common theme I’ve noticed in a few books has to do with our “inner voice” - you know, the one you talk to yourself with? I reviewed the book, Freeing Your Child From Negative Thinking, over at Mama Speaks. Much of it discusses that spiraling inner voice that chimes in for our children when they make mistakes - “I can’t believe I did that. I’m so stupid. I suck at everything. Everything is awful.” Between you and me, I actually found that it applied to me more than anyone else in my family.

The book I’m reading now, Buddhism For Mothers: A Calm Approach To Caring For Yourself and Your Children, also talks about our inner voice, mainly in relation to the notion of practicing mindfulness, but also in encouraging mothers to show compassion to themselves. Because of these two books I’ve been much more aware of how I speak to myself, especially when things aren’t going well.

Just now I was making the bed and I forgot to put the top sheet on before covering it with the comforter. When I turned around to see the sheet still sitting in the chair my immediate response was: “Oh, you idiot.” And I can’t even say it was an inner voice, since I actually said the words aloud to myself.

Idiot? Really? For not putting on a top sheet? In all seriousness, what is up with that? If my husband made the same mistake I would never, ever call him a name for it (no really, honey, I wouldn’t). If Sam forgot to do something in a sequence, the word idiot would certainly not enter my mind. So why is that my instinctual response when it comes to myself? It’s kind of ridiculous when I think about it.

Give yourself a little compassion - and really I’m speaking to myself here. I/you deserve the same compassion and kindness that you/I show to others.

And have yourself a great weekend.