Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume - 4, Issue - 5, 1 November 2019 | Page 12

In order to reclaim what you have repressed, you’ll need to practice inner
child work and shadow work. Both of these forms of inner work are ideal ways
to dig up what has been repressed and shut away within you.
One of the most powerful methods I’ve found for practicing both inner child
and shadow work is something known as mirror work. I recommend hopping
over to that article and learning how to practice mirror work so that you can
get started on reclaiming your power and authenticity.
3. Replace people-pleasing with self-care
It’s impossible to just stop people-pleasing cold turkey. That pattern, most
likely, has been ingrained in you for a very long time.
But it is possible to slowly channel that energy to new means: self-care. Does
that sound selfish? It might. But the reality is that by learning how to care for
yourself, you will learn how to genuinely care for others. Your care won’t be
tainted by unconscious needy motives (e.g., the need to be validated),
instead, it will be fuelled by the genuine desire to help others.
Every time your mould yourself to be a certain way around someone, do one
thing for yourself and only yourself. That might mean making yourself a hot
cup of tea, taking a mindful breathing break, eating something nourishing, or
spending some time alone to rejuvenate your energy.
4. Journal (and answer these questions)
Journaling is a wonderful, refreshing form of catharsis. Not only will it help
you to emotionally feel better, but it will help you to gain mental clarity
surrounding your low self-worth.
I recommend journaling every day for at least five minutes and doing some
introspection. How did your day go, what made you happy or sad, what did
you notice about yourself?
For exploring your self-worth, I recommend journaling about the following
questions:
1 What is something that no one could ever take away from me?
2 Who am I and who am I not?
3 What kind of person do others expect me to be?
4 What does self-worth mean to me?
5 What false ideas have I been taught about myself?
6 What external things don’t define my self-worth?
7 If I lost everything in my life, what would I still have that would be of
value?
You may like to revisit your answers in the future and see if they shift and
change. If anything, you’ll get an interesting glimpse into your mind and
thought processes after journaling about these questions.