Invest and Digest....

I was thinking back to days of yore when the idea of investing seemed crazy to me. I'm not referring to buying stocks and shares but instead, investing in myself - my own personal development, self-care, self-esteem and self-belief. When we believe we're not worthy of such an investment, that others are more important and that our role on this earth is to make others happy, that's when we enter into the danger zone... The only person who has the power to make me happy is... me! Of course I can be happy in another's company, be happy with my job, family, life etc but ultimately it's my reaction to what's around me that determines my capacity for happiness. If we're not happy, that's when the mind is signalling, just as the body does with physical pain, that there's something we need to take a look at... a need or value of ours that isn't being met.

For me, investing in my own personal development - trying out different courses, attending workshops, having coaching sessions - is what has advanced my emotional progress. My emotionally arrested development began to move forward each time I took a step in the direction of overcoming fear and challenging long-held beliefs.

Receiving recovery coaching has been as rewarding for me as therapy was some years ago but in a different way... It has allowed me to shine a light on dark and dank places, giving me time to begin to understand where old behaviours might have been obscuring my vision of the present. The focus on the 'here and now', with an understanding of the 'then and there', enables us to glance at the past through a different lens, knowing that our focus has changed to 'living today' and not yesterday. As we make the decision to invest in ourselves, we begin a new journey to a brighter, more uplifting future.

Initially, we might find ourselves looking back with anger, regret or frustration at who we were yesterday but, as we learn compassion for ourselves, these negative emotions and feelings make room for calm, serenity and, very often, sheer joy.

Time to digest is crucial and, although sessions are usually undertaken weekly, it can be a few weeks or even months before we are ready to move into action, as we need to fully process what we uncover about ourselves. But that's ok... as long as we remember to be kind to ourselves during the process.

Investing in ourselves could include time for self, spending money on personal development, self-nurturing.. but crucially it involves a willingness for something better for ourselves... a willingness to invest and commit time, effort and money, as we have so easily for others in the past... Are you ready to begin this journey... to invest and digest?