Feeling good about yourself

You feel good about yourself when you use your bicycle to go shopping, rather than the car. You feel good when you are exercising. You feel good when you have done something good for someone else. You feel good when you have met someone else's' expectations. You feel good when you have done a good job, like cleaning or delivering, etc. Now this feeling good is directly related to a standard you have adopted in your life. You may become more aware of this when you consciously notice the chatter that is going on in your mind while you are doing such a thing (and do not judge yourself for whatever you find is going on there!)

However, when the above is true, then there is a reverse side of this as well: you do not feel good about yourself because you ate a cookie. You do not feel good about yourself because you were in a fight. You do not feel good about yourself because ... Here too you will find an endless series of standards that you have adopted somewhere along the line of your life and which you now fail to live up to. And then there is the automatism where when you have labeled something 'good' once, the alternative immediately is labeled 'wrong' in the same action. For example when you have used the bike to do your shopping once and you felt good about it, then the next time you are doing the same and use the car, this automatically holds out the shade of wrong and guilt, which can only be overcome by introducing huge new reasons to justify yourself for this new approach, like bad weather or such.

Your personality, who is in charge of your feelings, of course uses feelings as his goal for the day, with 'feeling good' as the main standard against which everything else is measured. Your inner Self is not about feelings, it is about Being, and does not support this personality goal. Your inner Self only gently reminds you to let go anything you have made to cover the awareness of this Aspect of yours, which will bring you an awareness of inner Peace, regardless of outer circumstances.

Feeling good about yourself is not about whether other people are satisfied with you, or whether you have lived up well to your own standards, it is about whether you follow the inspiration of your inner Self and thus have used your day to increase your remembrance of This in yourself and others.