This made me cry today.

I received an email from a client a few days ago saying they were not going to be doing Clarity and Confidence Retreats with me next year (aka power groups)

Then I got this email today.

“Sheryl, I know I said I was going to stop power groups but I’ve changed my mind, I’d like to carry on as they are brilliant and a really warm supportive welcoming space with fantastic people. I might not do all of them but at least one a quarter. I’ll have a look at the calendar and will let you know which ones are my top choice.

Many thanks for your love and support and true genius of getting us to achieve all that we want and reducing doubts.”

Why does this make me cry?

The tears are what happen now when I receive love. My heart and mind are so open that I actually hear and feel the words of kindness in this email.  I remember saying as a “I ‘know’ my parents love me but I don’t feel loved.”

It is only through the Clarity process that I discovered when someone said they felt loved I imagined a physical sensation or sense of someone touching must happen. And that certainly wasn’t happening for me. Then I told myself lots of stories about what I thought love was and looked for evidence of that and couldn’t find that either.

Attention

I would check in with myself and I would think “I don’t feel anything”

Then I noticed one day that I would say ” I feel really hurt by that.”

When I became curious about what I meant when I said “I feel really hurt” I discovered it was like I had been kicked in the stomach with a massive size 10 steel toe cap black boot and I was really winded. I mean it actually took my breath away even though it was just words and there was no physical contact from the other person.

I physically felt this whoosh of emotion that came at the stomach and then went up and over my whole body.

This would happen when I thought I had upset someone or when I felt misunderstood.

This got me thinking – if I can feel it when it hurts how come I don’t feel love or joy.

At first in my frustration of not being able to make sense of everything I blamed others of not loving me, not showing me love and yet when I really thought about what love was to me, I found it hard to describe.

What do you hear and see that would tell you that you are loved?

I asked my husband and he said “I don’t look for anything I assume it is there”

That threw me a little as I really wanted to ‘feel’ something.

Strategies work until they don’t

Over the years I developed strategies to avoid the hurt of being criticised.

I started to pay more attention and I soon noticed a pattern

What I discovered is that it hurt most when the criticism was unexpected.

Therefore one strategy was to put myself down and criticise myself – that way it wasn’t such a shock when other people criticised me, however what I didn’t know then, but do now, is that when people didn’t correct me it also hurt.

A Bind

Add into this mix, that I was born to a generation that thought talking about your strengths and your successes was bragging or big headed, I didn’t really have much awareness of when I was doing anything right.

How I learn at my best is to see it, hear it and then experience it. And I certainly did not get to see compliments, hear them and then experience them.

Plus I then developed this amazing strategy to attempt to block out criticism which also meant that I blocked out any praise that came my way too.

Sick of criticism

If you are sick of criticism and you want to live your best life and you are determined to reduce criticism of yourself and others then please do comment below “I am in” and let’s arrange a time to chat in Jan 2018 and make sure next year really is your best year ever.

I am about to close the office for a month from 9th Dec to 8th Jan and open my home and heart fully to my family whilst giving myself time to truly embrace all that is great in my life now that I am 50.

You matter, you make a difference and I care that you feel heard, understood and of value at all times.

I care that you feel safe to speak and that you don’t get trapped in that space where you have to be positive and happy to motivate and inspire others, which can leave you with no space to express yourself fully. Actually talking about what criticism was like for me gave me the clues I needed to break a pattern of behavior that was no longer serving me.

And if you keep adapting yourself to please others you can slowly but surely lose sight of who you are and what life is all about.

If you are asking yourself questions like:
Who am I ?
What’s the point?
When is it my turn?
Who is taking care of me?
What if I say how I really feel and they think less of me?
What if they judge me and I lose their love and connection?
What if ? What if?

And you are sick of that voice in your head and ready for absolute clarity and confidence to ask for what you want, then please comment below.

Also check out our 2018 retreats here.