Celebrating Yourself

We recently discussed “Banishing the Should Monster”, and getting rid of the expectations that you use to beat yourself up. Tonight is the first full moon in October (there is another one on Samhain/ Halloween). Many witches use this time to celebrate the presence, blessings and lessons of the Goddess. Which is amazing and truly helps with building Frith with a Deity.

However, I want to talk to you today about celebrating yourself. So many times we beat ourselves up over what we haven’t done- we need to shift this balance and begin CELEBRATING WHAT WE HAVE DONE! This is especially important when we have low energy days. When we have a day where everything is difficult for us to do: be grateful and celebrate what you are able to do- You got out of bed- YAY! you deserve some recognition for this. You took care of your own needs- again YAY! you fed yourself and that is part of self care and you are doing an amazing job!

When we change our self talk from “why didn’t you get this done” or ” Big deal you made a meal, but you didn’t complete x,y,z, task” to ” Look at what you DID accomplish today!” It switches something inside of us and helps us to create a positive outlook. Sometimes the only thing we can accomplish is getting out of bed and feeding ourselves, and when dealing with mental, emotional or physical issues that is a HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT that should be Celebrated!

So today take some time and analyze your last month, what did you accomplish this month? Did you get your bills paid, did you buy groceries, did you clean the house? Then take the Full Moon and celebrate that, give thanks for the energy that allowed you to do what you did get done. Tell yourself you did an awesome job this month and you are proud of yourself.

If you perform Full Moon Rituals, and you struggle with stress or daily life I highly suggest adding this as part of your ritual. When you are in sacred space share with your Spirit Allies the things you did well this month and celebrate them.

Within the Heathen practice of a Sumbel, there is a round which is specifically called a Brag, and that is exactly what it is; you tell those gathered with you the accomplishments you are proud of and they celebrate them with you. You don’t need a group of people to do this you can do it on your own: hearing yourself list what you HAVE DONE, and telling yourself you are proud that you got those things done can work amazing change in your life. This can be (if you are so inclined) piggybacked with setting a goal as well. For me I simply say something like: ” This month all our bills were paid on time, I was patient with my family members, I spoke up when I needed help, I got house cleaning done and I made sure we had the food we needed. This month I wrote X number of blogs and X number of pages.” then I take a few moments and breathe deeply feeling what emotions I feel at talking about what I did do, as opposed to what I didn’t. After a few moments I will say ” Nell I am proud of you and all you have accomplished this month! You are rocking it! (or something similar) I am so grateful you had the energy to do these things! I am grateful that you did these things to take care of yourself and others! If no one else says it: Thank you!”

After this if I feel so moved I will say something along the lines of: ” Next month I will write X number of blog posts (usually, increasing from the number that I had previously posted. I do want to note here, that I only increase my goals in reasonable amounts so I shoot for 1 or 2 more than I had previously done- going overboard would be saying I was going to write 30 more than I did last month and that, in my experience is setting myself up for failure). This is one rite I have come to enjoy, that is part of my Full Moon Rituals.

When I originally started this is was a difficult part to perform. We are often told not to brag, we should be humble and not talk about or celebrate what we do because that is negative ( our society tends to focus on the negative a lot!) When in fact celebrating what I can do, has helped me to realize what I am capable of, learn the patterns of my energy, set more realistic goals and increase what I am capable of doing. It has been an amazing step in learning myself and beginning that inner dialogue that helps create self awareness and connection with my God Soul.

Now after my ritual I will usually treat myself with something, sometimes it is a meditation that I hadn’t had time for throughout the rest of the week, sometimes it is a nice relaxing bath, or making time to read a chapter of a book I had been looking forward to, watching a movie that has been on my mind and yes sometimes that treat is a cake or something like that. I don’t know about others but I like variety in my life and in how I reward myself; if I only did the same thing all along then I would get bored with it and take it for granted.

So readers, the Full Moon is tonight! Take the time to CELEBRATE YOURSELF AND YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS- NO MATTER HOW SMALL!