Hello beautiful souls, I hope you’ve had a good start to your year. I’d like to talk about a little self-reflection and introspection today. I find it to be very important to do this regularly for myself. It’s important to give yourself a pat on the back from time to time, and not look to outside sources for it. It’s also gratifying to look at what you could improve upon as well, and see those improvements happening over time.

I’m talking about giving yourself a praise sandwich. You may be thinking, what is a praise sandwich? Well when I was in massage school years ago, my teachers had us do this exercise at the end of each body work session. We had to give our partner a praise sandwich. This means to start off with something you liked, then a constructive observation on what they might work on for next time, and then finish with something we really loved about the body work they did.

I have been applying this concept to myself ever since then. I find it to be essential to praise myself for the good things I do, and not dwell on the negative things I don’t like about myself. It does keep me mindful of aspects I’d like to work on. It also isn’t just focusing on all positive aspects and pushing things that I could be working on aside as if they aren’t there.

It is very important to receive constructive observations and criticisms with an open mind and not to take it personally. It is after all only a person’s particular observation, however, that also shouldn’t be an excuse to just dismiss it either. Your ego will want to fight it, or find reasons why it is not the case. It is just a way for you to work on a growth opportunity, in order to transform and be better than you were before.

It would be a fun exercise to do this with a friend. Ask them to give you a praise sandwich and then do the same for them.  I hope this was fun and sparks some deep inner reflections for you.

Blessings on your journey,

Shara