Please click here to listen to Episode 17 of the Minutes on Growth Podcast
Hey everyone,
It’s Tannaz Hosseinpour and welcome to another episode of Minutes on Growth. Today I would love to speak about self-judgement, gratitude and daily intentions and how the three are related; I want to talk about what It means to be grateful and how the simple act of expressing our gratitude can bring in immeasurable miracles into our lives. The reason I want to speak about it is because I have witnessed numerous miracles in my life the past couple of weeks. 3 years ago, after graduating from university and leaving the world of academia, I was very confused about the next chapter of my life, and what my journey should be. This confusion led to extreme self criticism. I was always thinking of the next step and the millions things I could be doing that I wasn’t. I was so pre-occupied with judging my every move that I didn’t really spend time to notice my accomplishments and what I had actually been able to do with my time, which proves that I am my worst critic. This detrimental cycle finally came to a stop when I had a wonderful ‘aha’ moment.
A couple of weeks ago, after reading the untethered soul, I realized that I needed to have a firm conversation with someone I spent a lot of time with. So I sat down and had a talk with my inner voice. I asked her to stop talking so much nonsense and to stop judging my every move. I mean she never stops having conversations with me. For those of you who are confused about what I’m talking about, try paying attention to the imaginary conversations you have with yourself all day, especially in the shower. The voice that forces you to react when your partner doesn’t answer your phone calls, or the voice that forces you to react when someone cuts in front of you while driving. Your inner voice, as Michael singer puts it, is like your roommate. Always there. Always talking And most of the time, actually not saying anything worthwhile.
After I became aware of her and asked her to stop, I opened my notebook and wrote down all my accomplishments over the past 36 months . I realized that during these 3 years, I started my own education consultancy firm, helped my mom start a brand new business, volunteered and fundraised for various local and international organizations, travelled to new countries, completed writing my first children’s book, started my own book club and of course started Minutes on Growth. If I was so busy doing all this, how did I really have that much time left to judge myself? Well that’s your inner voice’s super power – to always judge and criticize you even when you’re actually doing something! To prevent you from being in the moment and actually celebrating your victories. Now that I was aware and conscious of what was going on, I vowed to make a conscious effort to not allow and limit this harmful self-judging practice. I wanted to stop always chasing the next moment out of fear. Of course it is never good to get too comfortable with where you are and its important to always have goals and a desire to grow, however there are other ways to motivate yourself besides fear and self-judgment. One way to do that is by expressing gratitude for where you are. When you are grateful for what you have and where you are in your life, you are practically telling the universe that if you send more miracles and blessings my way, I am open to them and more importantly I am able to acknowledge and appreciate them. You are allowing the universe to bring in what you need to get one step closer to your goals. Doing this every morning and every night has been a life changer for me. truthfully I don’t meditate every morning – some mornings I really just don’t have the time or I’m just simply not in the mood. but what I never miss doing, is immediately after my wash, as I am standing in front of my bathroom mirror is saying out loud 2 things which I am grateful for in that moment. it can be something as simple as having hands to wash my face with or having air-conditioning when its 40 degrees Celsius out.. And then comes step 2: which is setting 2 intentions for the day – goals that are do-able and realistic which I intent to accomplish that day. By doing this, 1- you let the universe know that you’re grateful for all that it has given you. 2- you let the universe know that you are taking action and that you are committed to growth. Ive noticed that by expressing gratitude and setting intentions in the morning, my day has more clarity and purpose. Once I get the 2 intentions done, I pat myself in the back and express gratitude to myself for actually doing them. And somehow the universe has been kind enough to allow more wonderful blessings to come my way. I’m not saying that all my short and long term goals have been fulfilled, but the journey is about focusing on one day at a time and being present during the day and being grateful during the day and having daily intentions and having snippets of daily growth . The detrimental self-judging cycle automatically converts to a healthy loving and supportive cycle. This isn’t some mambo jumbo that I’m making up. it is something that I have tested and which has worked out for me. Ever since doing so, I’ve noticed I’m naturally coming up with creative ideas on how to take my life’s purpose to the next level and that the world has become a much more supportive environment. I hope that you’ll incorporate this simple 60 second habit in your day and I hope that you stop allowing your inner critic from constantly judging you and preventing you from allowing the light in. Today embrace non-judgement, gratitude and the beautiful art of setting meaningful, do-able and realistic daily intentions.
Thank you for listening and talk to you soon.
Love & Light, Tannaz Hosseinpour
Minutes on Growth 