Ditch the web for a day and love yourself

By Caitriona McMahon    @Caitriona_Mac

Google …. available at our finger tips. On Phones, iPads, laptops. Regardless of the question, day or night, google provides an answer.

But were you aware you have an inner personal search engine?

There’s a famous Lion King scene when Rafiki says:  “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it or learn from it.”

I believe this to be true and if you look up the video clip it really does explain it very well and is worth the watch.

Emotional pain forces us to have a look internally rather than externally in the search to find answers.

We spend so much time looking out, at others, at situations etc that we lose sight of ourselves. What I like to call our ‘inner Google’ provides us with the answers we need when we need them. This search engine remains undiscovered by many. It’s only those that have been in deep pain have discovered it. Have you found it?

‘The past’… two very strong words. Words that have the power to either make you or break you. We were all born a blank canvas arriving vulnerable screaming for love.

From the moment we took our first breath our lives became about experiences, depending on others, survival, learning, loss, pain, love and so much more.

We are all so fast to judge ourselves, question our own actions and words. But why? When we see an artist in front of a blank canvas and two months later we return to see a masterpiece do we question how it got there?

What instances and occurrences had an impact on each brush stroke? No we don’t, but yet we do question ourselves in a negative way based on our past and in some ways we let it haunt us.

Today I challenge you to use your inner Google gifted to you from the wisdom gained from the past and instead of negatively questioning yourself maybe positively challenge yourself.

What have I learnt? Am I aware now of things I was once unaware of before ? Have I grown as an individual? If faced with the same situation in the future, would I act differently knowing what I now know?

What you will find is that the past has played a role in your life to date but you are the script writer. You control what happens next!

Caitriona is the co-founder of Community Crisis Response Team voluntary suicide intervention team in Limerick.