Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session we're going to talk about re-establishing respect for yourself. Feeling a sense of respect for yourself is one of the most important factors for experiencing deep contentment. It's what creates comfort in your own skin. It's a sense of being proud to be who you are, not in an arrogant way, but in an appreciative way.

Now, there are a lot of reasons we might lose respect for ourselves. Some of which include things that are out of our control. For instance, when we were young, our family or social circle may have encouraged us to think, speak or act in ways that didn't feel aligned with who we are and who we respect ourselves to be. But the social pressure was greater than our inner resources to act in alignment. There are also though many times that we chip away at our self-respect by making conscious decisions that we know are out of alignment with the person we would most respect ourselves to be.

These can be big things, but these can also be small things. For me personally, I think back to a time when I spoke badly behind a friend's back to someone else who I was trying to fit in with. It felt innocent, but it was a subtle compromise of my own self-respect because it didn't align with the person I most respected myself to be, the person I most wanted to be. We often make these little decisions because the trade-off feels valuable. In the example I shared it was social connection that I was longing for.

But it does something to our core, our perception of who we are. Fortunately, the self-respect is something that we can rebuild and it starts by taking some time to reflect on the person we would most respect ourselves to be. What is this person's values? What decisions does this person make? How would this person conduct themselves in a social setting? And then we practice adhering to those things, especially when it feels hard. If developing more self-respect feels compelling to you, my suggestion would be, you know, after you finish your meditation, think about one thing you want to practice this week. It could be something like being on time or speaking, honestly, or not gossiping, and then make full effort to adhere to this throughout the week.

And each time you do, let yourself feel the goodness of living in alignment. Really take it in and appreciate it, not for anyone else, but for yourself. Over time, the accumulation of these moments that are in or in alignment with the version of you that you respect yourself to be, this will reestablish and rebuild your sense of self-respect. Thank you for your practice and let's settle in for today's meditation.