Be proud of yourself, that is my message today, and I want to give you some help in doing so. Here in the UK, last weekend, we had the London Pride parade and England football fans have been revelling in some new found footballing pride as the national team reached the semi-finals of the World Cup… What does it really mean to be proud of yourself? And how do we become so?

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” – Golda Meir.

Being proud of yourself or having strong self-compassion is considered by some as being key to a happy, fulfilling and successful life. Research by Sirois (2013) published in the Self and Identity Journal shows self-compassion even makes you less likely to procrastinate. It also boosts happiness and reduces stress.

Pride and self-compassion are not things you find in a package at the store, unfortunately. You do not get them exclusively because you are beautiful, strong, wealthy, or popular. Self-compassion is a strength inside you that you can learn to enhance and choose to develop. Read this article to get really focused on advancing your self-compassion:
– Why is self-compassion important? And how to advance it with self-hypnosis.

When you learn to be proud of yourself, it is built upon your strengths, and it is not crumbled by your (perceived or actual) weaknesses. You can develop your self-compassion on any strength that you have. If you are a fashion minded person with a unique sense of style, then you can be confident about that. You can look at the world knowing that you have style, charisma, and a taste all of your own.

When the world or your own thoughts ever cause you to doubt yourself you can examine yourself, take a look at what you love and remind yourself that you are special, you are important, and you are living your life in your way. Be proud to wear you and show the world how unique you really are. Here is a great article to really help you with that:
– Why and How To Express Your Individuality and Uniqueness.

“It takes strength to be proud of yourself and to accept yourself when you know that you have something out of the ordinary about you.” – Abigail Tarttelin.To be proud of yourself, here are 5 simple steps to get you started:

1. Learn and Grow:
Since you’re human, if you’re willing to focus and push yourself, you will grow. And that’s awesome. And you’re awesome simply by being human. You don’t need to have made a single right choice in your life up to this point. You have the raw material, now it’s just a matter of shaping it. Love yourself for that. Be pumped and stoked about yourself for that. That is, feel proud of yourself for being, and for seeking to develop in any way at all. Commit to your own development.

2. Earn Credibility with Yourself:
If you really want to win over your negative self-talk start doing things that build momentum in your life and make you feel good about yourself. One important way to do that is to tell yourself that you’re going to do something and then stick with it. It can be the smallest of things, but do one thing every day that if you do it, you know you’ll be proud of yourself. Start small. This is one of the most important things you can do in life. Believing in yourself makes an incredible amount of difference. You will find it much easier to believe in yourself if you earn it and demonstrate to yourself that you should believe in yourself. When you start small, you may be surprised at just how addictive it becomes to keep your promises to yourself. It will make you feel like a new person. Doing what you set out to do makes you credible and far more believable in, in your own eyes.

3. Practice Gratitude:
It’s not enough to do this once or sporadically. You need to practice gratitude regularly. You get more of what you focus on. If you focus on things that you’re grateful for suddenly you’ll start seeing things to be grateful for everywhere. Take the time to acknowledge them all. Again, start small – a smile, the wind, your health, etc. The evidence for the positive effects of gratitude is really impressive.

4. Develop Positive Self-Statements:
You need to develop positive self-statements that you tell yourself when doubt and negativity start to creep into your life. It is very easy to let negative thoughts take over so you need some positive statements that you find empowering and uplifting. You are going to be your own cheering squad.

I recommend that you learn self-hypnosis as one of the best ways of doing this. Here is another neat way though….

Get a package of index cards or write lists on an app on your phone and write down your positive statements. Hang your statements on the walls of your room. Hang some of them in your locker, or around your desk, refer to them regularly or have them pop up as your screen saver. Sometimes we forget to cheer ourselves on, but these written affirmations will help us to lift ourselves up internally. Read them with an open-mind and invest belief in them. 

You need a place where you can go and use your powerful positive statements without the distractions of the world interfering. The world’s distractions can impede the progress you are trying to make. You want a place that is quiet, and that you feel safe in.

A really great way to develop affirmations is this process that I wrote with regards to using a mantra when running, but can be applied to anyone looking to give themselves positive suggestions and affirmations:
– The Advancing of the Runner’s Mantra – Using Self-Hypnosis.

5. Be Patient with Yourself:
The majority of people are in a hurry and they expect more of themselves than they can actually do. This causes bitter disappointment that they should not have and do not deserve.

Much of our media culture results on young people often putting too much pressure on themselves to do it all, have it all, and be everything too soon. Young people look at older people and they try to model their lives after those older people. They see rock stars, movie stars, and celebrities, and they want to have the same amount of fame and fortune that those people have, often without going through the same journey.

Do not covet what other people have. Covet a happy life where you are in control. Work to achieve that life and do not worry about the world around you with a permanent sense of grasping and wanting more. Importantly, enjoy the journey and you’ll recognise so much more in yourself and your life that you can be proud of.

Do those five simple things and you’ll be off to a very good start of really learning to love and appreciate yourself. Once you’re beginning to believe in you and be proud of you, you’ll be in a far more optimistic space. You’ll just feel better. You’ll be proud of yourself.

You are capable, you are worthy, and you are resilient. Never doubt yourself. Look at your best each day, be your best each day, do what you can, and at the end of the day let yourself relax. Be secure in the knowledge that you tried your best and that your best is good enough. Be proud of yourself.

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Have some of themes here resonated with you? Then have a read of these pages:

1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life? Need to learn to be proud of yourself?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others? Are you a hypnotherapist looking for stimulating and career enhancing continued professional development and advanced studies?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist looking to fulfil your ambitions or advance your career?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.

Likewise, if you’d like to learn more about self-hypnosis, understand the evidence based principles of it from a scientific perspective and learn how to apply it to many areas of your life while having fun and in a safe environment and have the opportunity to test everything you learn, then come and join me for my one day seminar which does all that and more, have a read here: The Science of Self-Hypnosis Seminar. Alternatively, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book. Self-hypnosis can help you to be more proud of yourself too, in a number of ways.