“Comparison is a real killjoy. You might be bouncing along in your day, feeling pretty good, and then suddenly you see an image, hear a piece of news (or celebrity gossip), or see a post in your social media scroll…and boom! You are triggered back into an old, unwelcome-yet-pervasive pattern of comparing and contrasting your life in some way to someone or something else.

Suddenly your feelings turn from happy, joyful, and light into dark, heavy, and murky. The bounce in your step is now squashed. It's a negative pattern for sure, and one that many of us feel stuck in. However, it doesn't have to continue in the same intensity, though some balanced levels of social comparison are part of our normal behavior strategy

The key is to not allow comparison to dominate your day and adversely affect your moods and sense of self-worth. The way out of the cycle is to connect to a deeper place inside of you, where your intuition, unique voice, inner validation, peace, and creativity live. When you ground more and more deeply into that place, the noise of the outside world has less of an effect.

Zoom out

The moment this sets in, start to "zoom out," or move your attention away from the image, the idea, the trigger. Bring your focus back to your body and your energy, and take a few deep breaths.

Find the stillness.

Start to connect more to the stillness in daily life through meditation, and specifically through implementing a morning meditation practice as closely as possible to waking up, to set the tone of the day.

Remind yourself (again and again if need be!) that we are all on equal, albeit different, journeys.

Duh! You may say to yourself. I already know that. Yes, but do you actually try to experience this truth in your daily life? If not, the world, full of external imagery and marketing messages designed to get us to buy more things, will make us believe we have to keep comparing.

Start the day with a positive affirmation.

One affirmation that applies here is: I am unique and beyond compare.

Spend a few quiet minutes a day in nature, witnessing the infinite forms.

Mother Nature is always there to help us heal. There's much to learn from the wordless, humble yet powerful being-ness of each tree, rock, plant, and grain of sand.

Eat grounding foods.

Research finds we are more prone to anxiousness when our gut microbiomes are off-kilter, and this imbalance can further contribute to a less sturdy, stable mindset that can therefore make us more prone to judgment and comparison.”

Read the complete full article on Mind Body Green

✨Takeaway: The bright news is that you can change the habit of comparison, but it will take more work over the first several months to achieve that change. But it is unquestionably worthwhile to strive for getting past comparison. The repeating of a new habit and substitution with new ways of being must be ingrained gradually, just like breaking any habit.

✨Reflection: How do you avoid comparison?

#Comparison #MentalHealth #Journey #Affirmations