My new year wish for all beings

If there’s one thing I wish for all humans for this new year, myself included of course, is that we stop hating ourselves. 

This is the one thing that will shift things on a universal level if it were to change. 

I know it doesn’t seem that everybody hates themselves. In fact it seems like some humans like themselves too much to the point they think they are better than others and that the world revolves around them. But in my mind that’s just a charade. They hate themselves, too. Down deep all humans feel this way from time to time.

I know it sounds strong. You may say to me: “Wait a minute. I don’t hate myself”. 

Well, you might not go around saying  “I hate myself” but I suspect there are times you want to kick yourself for something. 

But if the same thing happened to someone you care about, you’d figure out how to be nicer, kinder to them. 

The reason it’s so hard to be nice to ourselves is that almost all of us were motivated to do things through shame. 

Shame is the most toxic motivational method ever invented by men.

And it’s everywhere in our culture.

I wish more people understood this and stopped using shame, particularly in raising and educating our young ones. That’s where it all starts.

Then we get adults that hate themselves for almost anything. How can we think about anyone else if we’re so steeped in shame?

I don’t love new year resolutions but if there’s one resolution that I would love everyone to take on it would be to do whatever we need to do to stop the shame cycle. 

It might take doing some deep healing work, practicing mindfulness, making decisions not to engage with self-shame over and over again and refrain from shaming others (particularly children), for anything.

That’s what I plan to do (or continue doing). Join me?