How Mindfulness Makes Releasing Old Habits Easy (… Well, Easier)

Thanks to practicing the two components of mindfulness, I’m now able to view my “mistakes” with objectivity and compassion.

A perfectly made bed in a neat and clean room. Mom would love it. Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

I was raised by a perfectionist parent for whom everything had to be done in a certain way, based on her standards of “the right way to do it.” If you didn’t do it the way she thought it should be done, you were at fault, and that was bad. At least for a kid at the receiving end of her perfectionism.

Then she would immediately tell or show me the right way to do it. It was hard to avoid low self-esteem under these exacting conditions.

So I lived for many years not trusting myself, not believing in myself, and always thinking that I wasn’t good enough.

Thankfully, I had the foresight to realize that I needed to work on raising my self-esteem, and have done so over the years. I’ve even forgiven Mom, realizing that she was a product of her upbringing during a time when Black people had to be on their best behavior to avoid being persecuted by a society that saw them as inferior.

But releasing this habit of not believing in myself, one that has worked against my best interests for most of my life, has been a long, hard-fought battle…