This is What It Means to Be True to Yourself

What does it really mean “to just be yourself"?

Is it a chance for self-reflection and self-awareness around who you are as a person?

Or is it just negative self-talk; a reaction to other people's opinions and a worry that you aren't living up to who you'd like to be? Pragmatically, it's likely a mix of both.

We could probably all use a touch more self-reflection in our lives. And, people's opinions, negative or positive, can be an extremely powerful source of motivation when viewed from the right perspective. So how do you infuse more self-reflection into your life?

Well, that's what covered in this post. Here are 3 different ways to allow yourself to be more, well, like yourself.

3 Ways Being Yourself Benefits Your Life

There are many ways to help you be more like your true self. To help you out, here are 3 super powerful ways to get you started.

1. Bring Awareness Into Your Internal Monologue

In this world of constant information input and device use, it can be hard to find any time at all for your own thoughts and self-reflection. And consequently, there now seems to be a colossal battle being realized between our inner peace and our busy minds.

And, when you really think about it, aside from sleeping (which can even become a haven for bubbling thoughts) your mind rarely really ever gets a break.

In fact, a recent study has found that most of us have more than 6,000 thoughts a day. Couple that number with the theory of negativity bias and you've got a potent recipe for unhappiness. Negative self-talk can quickly become normal and self-criticism is nothing out of the ordinary.

So how do you detach yourself from this constant stream of negative thoughts and emotions? By bringing a touch of mindfulness into your day.

Here are a few ways you can get started:

• Begin to listen to what you are telling yourself. You'll be shocked at how often you engage in negative self-talk.

• Replace negative emotion and thought with positive affirmations. Instead of being so hard on yourself, why not instead bring a touch of compassion and love into your internal monologue.

• Let your thoughts come and go. Whether it be sitting alone in the early morning or finding time to meditate, begin to take 5 or 10 minutes out of your day to observe and let go of any worries or negative thoughts you may be unknowingly harboring.

• Use a self-care checklist. Self-care checklists are a great way of realigning with inner peace and what it is that's important to you in your life.

By practicing these above tips you'll soon begin to rewire your brain and slowly over time become more aware of your own self-talk. You'll also discover some thoughts are worth engaging with while others can simply be let go through to the keeper.

2. Embrace Your Strengths

With a constant influx of negative self-talk, we can begin to doubt ourselves and easily fall into the habit of focusing on our weaknesses.

This can ultimately damage our confidence and our belief in ourselves. To combat this, it's important to remember that we all suck at something, none of us are perfect, and that's totally okay.

In addition to quietening our minds, it's in our best interest to also focus on what we are good at as well. In fact, a meta-analysis conducted on the impacts of self-affirmations found that positive self-reinforcement and positive affirmations promote self-acceptance, intention to change, and subsequent positive behavior.

All very practical ways to bolster your own self-image, boost confidence, and stop any negativity that you may hold towards yourself and your personality traits, good or bad.

3. Learn to Bring Forgiveness Into Your Life

Feelings of guilt, shame, and other emotions connected with doing something wrong should only stick around for a little while. If left un-dealt with, guilt can’t turn into defensiveness, denial, avoidance, and a means to lose who we really are.

To avoid this, understand that it's not always healthy to constantly put ourselves on trial for the mistakes we’ve made in the past. After all, we are only human beings, and with that comes the opportunity to slip up every once in a while.

Consider this, research has shown that people who foster a more realistic and balanced self-view are less prone to using counter-productive coping strategies that may lead to a lack of self-respect and kindness towards themselves. This can inevitably hurt our own self-image and lead to self-destructive behaviors.

Inversely, self-forgiving interventions have been shown to be helpful in relieving feelings of shame and guilt. This is particularly effective when coupled with responsibility-taking actions. So if you can learn to forgive yourself. And, even better, couple forgiveness with actions of kindness and honesty, you are only going to benefit in the long run.

Final Thoughts

Learning to be yourself can be a tough path to take. But, if you can master this, your life has been shown to become demonstrably better.So do away with the negative thoughts and self-destructiveness and find your way to inner peace and your authentic self.