“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
If I am convinced that I am no good, no amount of talking to me by others will have me think otherwise. There have been many times in my life that I was convinced that I was no good. I was a horrible player in most sports, uncoordinated, undisciplined, and unfocused. I really did not like myself in those early years because my friends all excelled at sports.
I was not a “brain” in high school. While I got good grades, they did not come to me naturally like many of my friends. I had to work exceedingly hard for my grades while others just breezed through courses and got their A grades. I did not like myself then and felt incredibly stupid.
Throughout the years, I have found many reasons to dislike myself: grades, bad at sports, uncoordinated, overweight, et cetera. As I allowed those negative thoughts to eat away at me, I finally came to realize that I was not only hurting myself, I was harming any chance at relationships with others. My negative thoughts about myself darkened most friendships. I realized that I needed to get out of that funk and into a better space in my head.
Now, I am still overweight, I still cannot play sports, I still do not excel at things I would really like to do, but I realize that is simply who I am and I try to deal with whatever I can deal with and let go of the things I have to let go. I do not allow negative perceptions to influence my relationships with others and with God. Well, I should say, I try not to let my perceptions of self influence me negatively. When I am feeling really down, sometimes my negative thoughts of self still get in the way.
The simple truth is that we are who we are. There are many things about ourselves and our lives that we cannot control. The sooner we realize that, the better off we will be. Why allow negativity to eat away at us and make it harder, if not impossible, to forge relationships with others and with God? No matter who we are, no matter how flawed we may be, God made us, He is pleased with us, and He loves us immeasurably and unconditionally.
FAITH ACTION: Take some time in quiet reflection today to examine who you are and what you do and try to come to peace with all of that. Ask God to help you to live in harmony with yourself.