There is always an opportunity to dislike yourself. Don’t take it. Not today. Not ever. ~ Brooke Castillo

Don’t you love when you receive a teaching such as this just when you most need to hear it, learn it (again!), and remember it?

I have been having the most wonderful time this summer paddle boarding on my funky “board-boat” that I fondly call Big Red or the Cadillac Floater.

The Cadillac has been perfectly awesome for some fun times on the water.

She can hold 3 people easily (myself and my 2 daughters for a day of fun).
My husband can paddle me around while I sun bathe.
I can jump in the water and crawl back on the board any time I want to get wet. I don’t need to “dock.” She is a “floating free” float.
She is solid and steady. I can just stand in the water and float for ever.
When I’m tired of paddling and or the wind gets too strong, I can sit down and paddle her like a boat.
She’s very red so people see me coming.
She’s a great conversation piece.

This past week at Silver Lake in Harrisville the water was like glass and I had been practicing yoga balances on Big Red for fun when my husband took some pictures of me. This proved to be the very opportunity to dislike myself that Brooke was talking about, only instead of not taking it, I took it.

Here are some of my thoughts when I looked at the pictures.

My thighs are way too fat.

I don’t like the look on my face.

Why did I wear that bathing suit/dress. That thing is ridiculous.

I look old.

Why wasn’t my foot up higher on my leg?

I should have done something harder/better/ more challenging!
This was just a harmless photo that I attached all sorts of meaning to; and that meaning was all about my own worth and value. And believe me, this happened in about 30 seconds. If I didn’t already practice thought work, I may not have noticed that this was even going on within my own mind and I also might have believed that what I was thinking was the “truth” about me. Lastly, I wouldn’t have known that I could change my thinking and have a totally different experience of myself and my life.

You can see how taking that opportunity to dislike myself by believing those stories in my head, were leading me down a path of pain and misery.

So, this is what it looked like to consciously change how I was seeing these photos and the thoughts that I was thinking, so that I could feel the way that I wanted to feel; which in this case was excited and happy. In order to have some “new thinking” I couldn’t just think new thoughts, I had to believe them as well. Here’s what I came up with and I was really able to believe these thoughts after my initial “crappy mind rut”.

I’ve got some amazingly strong legs.

My balance rocks.

Not bad for an old lady! HA! HA!

I am so lucky that I had the money to be able to buy this board that has given me so much pleasure this summer.

I love my determination to try something new that I haven’t ever done and laugh at myself as I am learning.

How exquisite to have this time when all I am doing is floating around, breathing, being and practicing yoga on the water.

I am so blessed to be in this place on this day at this time in this life.

This was my opportunity.

How do I feel now? A whole lot better. I love my new story and I love that I created a “love” for myself, not a “hate” for myself.

What about you? Did you have any opportunities today? This week? This month? This year?

Next time, when that opportunity to dislike yourself arises, see it for what it is and then chose not to go down that path. And if you find yourself already going down that path when you remember, know that it is never too late to turn around.

This a practice that is so worth doing.

You just need to start.

Today seems like the perfect day to begin and your life seems like the perfect life to save.