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10 Signs Your Soul Has Reincarnated

Reincarnation means “to become flesh again.” Some religions, particularly Hinduism, believe that the soul moves on to exist within another life form after death. In other words, one has reincarnated

While we may never know what happens after we die, many of us feel we have lived many lives here on Earth. If you have ever wondered whether you have had more than one existence in this universe, you can use these signs to find the answer.

Here are 10 signs your soul has reincarnated:

highly sensitive people

1. You have a powerful intuition.

People who have reincarnated before just have an ability to know things before the rest of us do. They can go deep within to access knowledge otherwise hidden to the public, and have a way of sensing things before they happen. Intuitive souls may have connections to other dimensions and worlds and have the ability to talk to beings from other planets and galaxies. They spend a lot of time in quietude, mulling over the information they have been given and trying to make sense of it all.

2. A reincarnated soul experiences déjà vu often.

If you have reincarnated before, you may have an eerie sense that certain events have happened to you before. For example, if you take a road trip across the country and feel you have driven those roads before (even though you haven’t), this may indicate that you have lived here at one point in time in another body. Certain people, places, or events may seem oddly familiar to you, even if you can’t remember seeing or meeting them before.

3. You’re highly sensitive.

Reincarnated souls have a high level of sensitivity and empathy. They feel everything to the core, and feel that they have a mission in life to help bring peace and healing to the planet. They have a very hard time dealing with the conflicting and turbulent energies of the world sometimes, and need a lot of time to rebalance themselves and do inner soul work. Empathic people hate being in crowded, noisy places, and avoid them as much as possible.

4. You feel like you don’t belong here.

A reincarnated soul also feels out of place here on Earth. They search forever for their home. But can’t find it. They feel like an alien here. So they watch in perplexity as people go about their daily lives. They can’t seem to understand why or how, and don’t have any desire to engage in “normal” activities here. They would rather spend time alone just laying under the stars, contemplating life and avoiding things that don’t have meaning to them.

Reincarnated souls have a deep longing to connect once again with their soul family, and have a hard time fitting in or feeling comforted on this planet.

5. You have a strong urge to visit faraway places.

You might have memories of living in a particular country or city in a past life. Thus, you have an insatiable desire to go there once again in this life. You have a wandering soul. That’s because you realize that home isn’t a physical place, but a feeling in your heart, you want to go anywhere and everywhere on this Earth.

However, you might feel drawn to a particular location or culture, possibly because you lived there in a past life. Don’t hesitate to immerse yourself in a new land or way of living; you might take away valuable lessons about yourself and your soul mission.

6. Reincarnated souls live for deep conversations and connections.

You have no appetite for small talk and an undeniable, relentless hunger for raw, real connections. For conversations that keep you on the edge of your seat, the kind that you could engage in for hours without getting bored. Many people have called you an old soul because you enjoy having meaningful conversations, possibly about the universe, science, history, philosophy, art, nature, or something of the sort. You get bored easily with conversations about gossip, jobs, fashion, or anything else superficial.

7. Reincarnated souls remember parts of past lives.

You can’t shake the feeling that you’ve lived here before, and the memories might come to you in your dreams, through a song on the radio, a line in a book, or some other mysterious way. However, you don’t recall these events or people from this lifetime, so you can’t quite place these memories on a timeline. You just know they happened, and wish to uncover more about your past lives. Children can usually recall more about their previous existences because they have just come from a past incarnation.

8. You don’t feel closely connected to your parents.

Even though you care for and adore your family, you might feel like the oddball, the black sheep, the misfit. You don’t have a close connection to your family, and sometimes wonder if you have another family out there somewhere. You might have dreams about having other parents, and feel like you’ve met them before. This might mean that you had these parents in a past life, as vivid memories and visions such as these usually point to previous incarnations.

9. You crave solitude regularly.

As we said before, the way this world works sometimes confuses and overwhelms you. You feel frustrated and imbalanced at times by the fast pace and superficial world we live in. So you go within to find true meaning. You simply need some time and space to recharge and recuperate from dealing with society. You probably get lost in nature as often as possible, often spending a few days at a time away from technology and other people to heal your mind and soul.

quotes of acceptance

10. You have fears that seem very real.

Our fears can often point to bad things that may have happened in a previous incarnation. For example, a fear of water might mean that you drowned in a past life. On the other hand, a fear of fire might mean that you died in a fire of some sort before. In order to dispel these fears and prevent your soul from having them over and over, try to face them head-on and defeat them. Otherwise, your soul will keep reincarnating on this planet until you learn certain lessons and overcome your fears.

4 Ingredients For A Lasting Relationship

When it comes to our relationships, who doesn’t wish for ‘Happily Ever After’? It’s the ideal romance that lasts and lasts. But is it within our reach?

According to one study of marriages from 1980 to 2010, the divorce rate is estimated to have doubled over the past two decades among persons over age 35. The actual rate of divorce is currently estimated to be around 42%. However disheartening that figure may sound, that study does not count non-married partnerships that end in separation.

With so many relationships ending in divorce, we begin to question if it’s even possible to keep a good thing from ending too soon. How to we prevent our own relationship from becoming a statistic? With that in mind, here are four essential ingredients in your recipe for a lasting relationship.

4 Ingredients For A Lasting Relationship

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1. Sustain the sense of excitement

Unfortunately the spark of attraction that brought you together is not enough to keep you together long term. Some couples easily slide into the boredom of routine, careers, and raising children. When your daily conversations are only about what to cook for dinner and who should take out the trash, it’s difficult to remember the passion that you once felt for your partner.

On the other hand, you can keep the excitement going by adding new and interesting activities to your relationship. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money or plan outlandish vacations to reignite the excitement.

Start by adding something small and new once a week, like going for a drive in a neighborhood that you haven?t been to before. Even this seemingly minimal change gives you new topics to talk about and a fresh perspective. Then you can go for bigger thrills, like a hot air balloon ride or a whale watching tour. The key ingredient is to keep it fresh and interesting.

2. Listen more than you speak

Imagine that you came home from work with the exciting news that your boss loved your presentation and when you told your partner, they didn’t look up from their cell phone and only muttered “Uh huh, that’s great” without any enthusiasm in their voice. You’d probably feel upset, angry, frustrated, unloved and unappreciated.

Instead, picture this in response to your good news; your partner immediately makes eye contact with you when you begin speaking, they set their phone down, they stand up and hug you after you tell them the good news and they respond with “Oh, that?s fantastic! I knew you would do great on that! Let’s go celebrate at your favorite place!”

The difference is obvious, and you know which one you’d prefer to receive from your partner. Just like the golden rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, give your partner the courtesy of responding with the same enthusiastic attention when they talk.

Clear communication is only part of a good relationship. Being mentally and emotionally present for your partner is an equally important ingredient for a lasting relationship.

3. Be willing to negotiate

You really want to go to see a new movie that just came out, but your partner had a long day at work and just wants to rest at home. So you make your case and your partner makes theirs. You just had an argument. How you resolve this is a big ingredient in making your relationship last.

They key to negotiating is seeking a win-win for both of you. You give a little, they give a little, and you both end up happy with the result. In this scenario, you might suggest that your partner catch a nap first and you can go see a later movie.

Respecting that you both have needs is key to how well you cooperate. If your partner made a sacrifice so that you could have your way, show appreciation for the fact that they gave up something that they really wanted so that you could be happy.

If there are major things that you can’t compromise on, like having children, converting to your partner’s religion or moving far away from your family for their work relocation, these may be a breaking point for the relationship. Ideally your limits on these topics are things that you discussed prior to making a long term commitment to your partner.

4. Take commitment seriously

Wanting the relationship to last is not enough; you have to take action to demonstrate your devotion to your partner. A study found that regardless of how much the partners wanted a lasting relationship, the inclination to engage in behaviors that supported the relationship was more important to how long the relationship lasted.

On the other hand, if one partner is doing all of the difficult work, for example, making sacrifices, apologizing, asking about their partner’s feelings, or tackling issues while the other partner does not engage in these behaviors, researchers found that the relationship was more likely to end.

Want to learn more about what couples do to keep their relationship? Click here for further reading on this topic.

5 Comebacks For Dealing With Toxic People

Have you ever just wanted to slug somebody? If you walk away from a conversation and you shake your head trying to gain clarity after being bombarded with a wave of negativity, you’ve encountered toxic people.

The goal of a toxic person is to be a thorn in your side and they are happy when they can see by the look on your face that they’ve succeeded. It’s easy to spot a toxic person by how they try to make you feel badly about yourself.

A toxic person blames others for their disruptive behavior and they never take accountability for their mistakes. They are the first to point out someone else’s mistakes, they gossip, they butt-in where they don’t belong, they belittle others and they distrust anyone with authority.

The costs of toxic people

A study by the Academy of Management Executives on incivility in the workplace found that toxic people have an economic impact for businesses. Researchers surveyed people who reported being victimized by toxic people. The victims reported that the toxic people caused the following declines in their productivity:

  • 12% of victims of toxic people quit as a result
  • 48% had a decreased effort at work
  • 47% decreased their time at work
  • 38% decreased their work quality
  • 68% said their performance declined
  • 80% said they lost time worrying about it
  • 63% lost time avoiding the person
  • 78% said their commitment to the organization declined

On the other hand, the authors of Emotions and Organizational Dynamism say that positive communication tools, such as humor, can boost productivity and group cohesiveness and also can be effective at increasing motivation. In the workplace where the bottom line is important, there is a clear financial impact of toxic people versus positive people.

Toxic people have an emotional impact in our personal relationships as well. If we allow their negative behavior to influence our mood, that can also affect how we act. A study in Psychological Science on the effects of negative mood found that when our mood is negative, our ability to think coherently is worse than when we are in a positive mood.

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5 Ways to Respond to Toxic People

Most of us have worked with or known someone who fits the description of a toxic person. Their behavior is unacceptable for those who seek positivity in their lives. It seems impossible to get them to change, so we tend to avoid them.

What if you could help a toxic person to actually reform their negative ways? It would benefit you and every other person who comes into contact with them. Let’s explore 5 productive ways to respond to the toxic people in our lives.

1. Confront them and describe their unacceptable behavior.

In the first stage of dealing with a toxic person, we confront the negative behavior by naming it. Stay aware of your emotions as you speak because you might accidentally start to express anger in your voice. Try to breathe deeply and keep your thoughts positive.

Use specific, observable behavior to illustrate the actions that you find disrespectful. For example, you might say “When you roll your eyes at me while I’m speaking to you, I feel unvalued.”

2. Explain your expectations.

Let the toxic person know that you expect civility, and respect, and you want them to stay solution-focused when they speak to you rather than focus on problems. Establish a boundary with the toxic person. For example, you might say “Negative emotions are normal, but the way you expressed your frustration by kicking the chair when you didn’t like what I told you is unacceptable to me. I’d like you to offer a solution that is preferable to you instead.”

At this point, you can also choose to set a timeframe to avoid talking to them until they are willing to change. You might say “Until you are able to discuss this with me without belittling me, I am going to refuse to speak to you. When you are ready to speak more respectfully, I will be happy to talk with you again.”

3. Tell them that you will be watching for signs of their willingness to change

Provide feedback on their ability to manage their negativity. For example, you might say “I appreciate the fact that you supported my suggestion rather than shooting me down.” You can also tell them that you’ve noticed that their body language is less closed off and their facial expressions have not reflected contempt.

If they haven’t improved, you need to tell them that as well. “When you hold your arms over your chest when I speak to you it gives me the impression that you’re closed off to what I’m saying. Let’s talk later when you feel more willing to listen.”

4. Set a timeframe for returning to your regular relationship with them.

Depending on your relationship with the toxic person, set a reasonable time to return to speaking with them. If this is a coworker that you need to deal with daily, you might say “Let’s give this a couple of hours so that we can try to return to a more positive discussion.”

If it’s someone toxic that you can avoid for a while, like a neighbor, you might say “Let’s give ourselves a break from each other for a week. I’d like to be able to talk to you when you are ready to be more positive in your interactions with me.”

5. Follow through with the consequences for their behavior.

If the toxic person is unwilling to change, let them know that you aren’t ready to speak with them. For example, you might say “Since you haven’t made any progress with being more positive in the ways that we discussed, I will decline to speak with you until you are able to change.”

As you follow this process with toxic people, remember to mentally protect yourself from their negativity. Their toxic thoughts are theirs, not yours. Don’t take it personally.

toxic positivity

Set These 3 Boundaries To Protect Yourself from Toxic People

Unfortunately, we can’t always avoid toxic people in daily life. Whether we encounter them in the workplace, school or during errands, negative people will cross our path eventually. However, we can choose how to respond to them.

If you find yourself in the crosshairs of a toxic person, make sure to set these boundaries.

1.     Maintain a Positive Mindset.

If you “kill them with kindness,” so to speak, they can’t steal your sunshine. No matter how gloomy or angry they feel, you won’t even notice if you maintain a high vibration. A positive mindset will also help you make more informed decisions, especially in the workplace. A study in Psychological Science found that being in a sour mood affects your ability to make sound judgments.

So, optimism enhances your decision-making skills while also uplifting the people around you. Energy vampires prey on people in a vulnerable state, but a positive attitude easily repels them.

  • Focus on others around you. If you cross paths with toxic people, simply turn your attention away from them. Laugh and joke around with coworkers to lighten the mood and show the person you won’t tolerate their behavior. Once they notice everyone ignoring them, they will start feeling left out. Perhaps they’ll realize their mistake and try to rejoin the group in a more positive manner.
  • Flash them a smile. Smiling instantly uplifts the mood of everyone around you, and even yourself. Have you ever noticed how strangers seem to light up when you smile at them? That’s because we’re hardwired to read people’s faces, and a smile signals friendliness. Therefore, smiling at a toxic person might just bring them out of their bad mood. Maybe they’re just having an off day and could use a dose of positivity, after all.
  • Accept the circumstances. Nothing lasts forever in life, so remember that when you encounter a toxic person. After you finish work or errands, you can remove yourself from the situation. So, by accepting everything in life, both positive and negative, you can free yourself from suffering.

2. Be Present To Deal With Toxic People.

Becoming more self-aware and mindful will help you maintain composure around toxic people. If you can train your mind to remain calm, negative emotions won’t affect you as much. In other words, you can deal with the person objectively rather than allowing them to ruffle your feathers.

However, most people react rather than respond, which causes endless suffering throughout life. While it takes practice and willpower to maintain internal calmness when navigating life, anyone can learn mindfulness. The tips below can help during challenging situations.

  • Slow down your breathing. To become more mindful, it all starts with watching and controlling your breath. In fact, this forms the foundation for all meditative and yogic practices, because by controlling the breath, you gain power over your lifeforce. Unfortunately, most of us breathe in a fast, shallow manner without even realizing it. We have so much to do throughout the day that we forget about our spiritual health. However, you can become more centered and grounded by breathing deeply to increase oxygen in your body. This breathing practice activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which recharges the body and relaxes a racing mind.
  • Don’t get emotionally involved. Keep a neutral mind, ready for whatever comes your way without having expectations. This isn’t easy, but if you can maintain a level head around toxic people, they can’t affect your emotional state. By finding peace within, nothing outside will stir you.
  • Let go of stress. Don’t allow toxic people to affect your mental health. While you can’t escape them all the time, that doesn’t mean they have to drag you down. Realize that their negative emotions have nothing to do with you, so remain calm and let things roll off your shoulders. Perhaps your poise and equanimity will start to rub off on them as well.

3. Be Lovingly Detached.

Toxic people feed off others’ negative emotions and need people to validate their inner turmoil. Most of the time, they just want someone to hear their story and offer a shoulder to cry on, however.

Remember that a toxic person usually acts that way because they have a heavy burden on their shoulders. While you should offer compassion when possible, realize that you can’t and shouldn’t bear the responsibility of fixing them.

  • Listen and give advice if they ask for it. Toxic people are still human beings that need love and empathy, but you can’t put all your energy into fixing them. You can simply offer advice and listen to their story, hoping that they will find renewed strength along their path.
  • Give them a hug. If they’re open to it, why not offer them a giant bear hug to lift their spirits? Love is the best medicine, so spread it whenever you can. We’ve all been a toxic person at some point, after all, so we shouldn’t judge another’s journey too harshly. This doesn’t actually set boundaries, but it could restore their faith in themselves and humanity. A genuine hug can dissolve barriers between people and remind them of our interconnectedness. However, you can still remain inwardly detached while expressing love and concern for others.
  • Offer your well wishes. If all else fails, wish them your best and politely end the conversation. You’ve done your part by practicing active listening and empathy, and they must figure out the rest on their own.

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Final Thoughts on Dealing With Toxic People

We don’t want to paint toxic people in a bad light, because everyone goes through difficult times in life. It’s easy to crack under the pressure of modern society, so remember to show empathy to those around you. Perhaps being positive and offering to listen to their troubles will revitalize their spirit, after all.

You never know how you can impact someone’s life if you don’t reach out to help. As one big human family, we have a responsibility to look out for each other. Toxic people or not, we’re all people walking this journey, and it becomes a lot easier if we open our hearts.

7 Signs You Have Blocked Chakras

As you read this, a powerful energy force is flowing through and around your body. The 7 Chakras of the physical body focus on mental, spiritual, and emotional energy. When your chakras are strong, in harmony, and flowing, you have an abundant resource of energy to draw your strength from.

When one or more chakras become blocked, it’s like a kink in a garden hose. You can still get water out. But now you’re down to a trickle. With your chakras blocked, the amount of energy that you have available to you is limited.

Background and the psychic science of chakras

The Hindu concept of the chakra has its’ ancient origin in India. In the tantric tradition, it is believed that the energy that was brought forth at the creation, the Kundalini, is a serpent coiled at the base of the spine. Through yoga and meditation, the Kundalini energy can be awakened to flow through the body and allow one to connect with the Creator.

Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama, the International Association for Religion and Parapsychology founder, says the following:

“We may define the chakra as an energy center which spins like a wheel and opens like a flower.”

Dr. Motoyama devotes his work to bridge the scientific and spiritual world with the development of an instrument that can measure chakra energy changes by detecting tiny electrical, magnetic and optical changes around the body as a person focuses their attention on the chakras.

In another blending of science and the psychic, UCLA Physiological Science Professor Valerie Hunt, author of Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness, used an instrument to record the electrical activity of the muscles at the locations of the chakras.

Professor Hunt discovered what she calls ‘mystical personalities’ who have higher levels of human electromagnetic output than those who are not attuned to their chakras.

Also, you can experience a blockage at one or more chakras at a time.

What are the seven chakras?

Beginning at the top, the following are the seven chakras:

  1. chakrasCrown Chakra: The top of the head, represented by a white light
  2. Third Eye Chakra: From between the eyebrows, represented by a violet light
  3. Throat Chakra: Starts the base of the throat, represented by a blue light
  4. Heart Chakra: At the center of the chest – represented by a green light
  5. Solar Plexus Chakra: In the midsection or abdomen, represented by a yellow light
  6. Sacral Chakra: The reproductive organs, represented by an orange light
  7. Root Chakra: Sitting at the base of the spine, represented by a red light

Here are 7 signs that you could have blocked chakras

Is your energy blocked? If you have any of the following signs might indicate a blockage.

1. Difficulty concentrating

The third eye chakra provides energy for the intellect and our ability to see the truth. A blockage here will cause a lack of focus.

2. Sleep problems

The third eye chakra is also the center for awareness and light. In addition, it is where sleep and awakening are regulated. Difficulty with sleep can mean a blockage in this chakra.

3. Feeling helpless

The heart chakra regulates emotions and well-being. Stress can cause a blockage in the heart chakra.

4. Not being able to express yourself

The throat chakra is the center for verbal communication. A blockage in the throat chakra can lead to difficulty in describing your emotions and conveying information accurately to others.

5. Lacking motivation

The solar plexus is the center of physical energy that the body gains from nourishment. The sacral chakra represents creative energy and inspiration. A lack of motivation could be a block in either of these chakras.

6. Closing yourself off to others

The heart chakra is the energy center for our feelings. In fact, a blockage here means that we are closed off to becoming close to other people in romantic and non-romantic relationships.

7. Not being able to accomplish goals

The throat chakra supports individual growth. Not achieving as much as you’d like could mean a blockage in the throat chakra.

blocked chakrasFinal thoughts on cleansing your chakras, plus how to remove a blockage

If you believe that you are experiencing signs of a blocked chakra. However, you can try a few things to try to clear it.

Danielle Fagan, the author of Infinite Kingdom, suggests ways to remove chakra blockages to restore balance into our lives. She suggests these three steps to clear the imbalance:

  • Take accountability for the missteps that we have made in our lives to get us to this point.
  • Begin journaling to become aware of the blockage and the potential causes of it.
  • Follow this guided meditation to cleanse the chakras of blockages and restore them to harmony.

By observing ourselves, breathing mindfully, and feeling the light within us as it moves through our seven chakras and clears out our unwanted baggage, we can achieve harmony within our chakra system.

Do You Talk To Yourself? Here’s Why It Might Mean You’re A Genius

The next time you talk to yourself, you should tell yourself, “It’s okay, this just means that I’m a genius!” When talking to ourselves, we sometimes wonder if we are going crazy, but the truth is that our brains work in wonderful ways by using speech to help us process information.

Talking to Yourself Helps Memory

A study in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found that self-directed speech can help people trying to find a specific object in a group of other items. Saying aloud the name of the item they were searching for helped participants find the object more accurately than if they did not talk to themselves.

This research implies that speaking to yourself helps you process visual information better. Think about chess players who have to remember the positions of the pieces on the board and plan for their opponent’s possible future strategies. That is a lot of visual information, so talking to them helps them recall the important details.

If you talk to yourself but have tried to stop, it may be better to allow yourself to keep talking. Other research has shown that suppressing the tendency to talk to yourself will hurt your ability to switch from one task to another. The ability to multitask has become so important for our modern lives, so keep talking to yourself to work through everything you need to get done.

When it comes to memory, we have a limited storage capacity. Just like a computer, your brain has long-term storage and current processing memory. Talking to yourself helps with the information you are currently processing, also called your working memory.

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Talking to Yourself Helps Regulate Emotions

Self-talk also gives you genius points for managing your emotions better. Rather than getting furious when something doesn’t go your way, you can rationalize why it didn’t work out and talk through possible solutions. You might say, “OK, well that didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but that’s alright because I can try this instead.”

People who talk to themselves can maintain a positive outlook more easily than those who do not talk to themselves. Negative attitudes are programmed into us sometimes in childhood, and we can lose faith in ourselves. Positive people use self-talk to overcome that negative outlook and coach themselves to a positive frame of mind.

You might be a genius if you can talk to yourself and re-training your brain to take negative self-talk and turn it into positive self-talk. Positive self-talkers enjoy a more productive and enjoyable life.

When you learn to rely on yourself for help, you develop your sense of self-esteem. Rather than having a friend there to assist you, you act as your best friend, guiding your thoughts and encouraging yourself along the way. Giving yourself positive feedback helps you to feel good about your accomplishments.

Talking to Yourself Helps Concentration

Talking to yourself can help you to concentrate and focus on things more clearly. Just like how self-talk can help you multitask, talking to yourself can also help maintain focus on a task for a sustained period of time.

When you talk to yourself, you can focus on what needs to be done. Your goals become clear as you speak to yourself while performing a task. By focusing on the sound of your own voice, you can mentally remove the distractions around you.

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Final Thoughts: How to Start Talking to Yourself

  • Ask yourself questions. Ask yourself about what you’re doing right now. Try “Will I be successful?” and then answer yourself positively with a “Yes, of course, I will be successful.” This kind of positive speech will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your confidence in yourself is infectious.
  • Give yourself instructions. Tell yourself the first step in the task you are working on, then the next, and so on.
  • Encourage yourself. Try saying, “Yes, you’ve got this,” or “That looks great. I knew you could do it!”
  • Block negative discussions. If you find yourself saying discouraging things like “I’ll never be able to do this right,” say “Stop” back to yourself. This is a way to block negative language before it affects your mood.
  • Focus on the positives. Rather than saying, “Don’t mess this up,” which focuses on what could go wrong, say, “You’ll do just fine,” which is more positive language.
  • Forgive yourself. Making mistakes is human and when you do, forgive yourself by saying, “It’s okay, you didn’t do that intentionally.”

8 Things A Strong Woman Should Never Apologize For

There is certainly a time and place for asking for forgiveness, and women can show strength by being humble when needed. Asking for forgiveness when we make a mistake is a positive character trait, whereas over-apologizing can be seen as a sign of weakness.

“I’m sorry” can roll off of the tongue so easily that it can leave you wondering if you did anything that was really worth apologizing for.

When an apology is called for, a strong woman does the right thing, but there are at least eight things that she should never feel that she has to apologize for.

8 Things A Strong Woman Should Never Apologize For

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1. Making choices against convention

Even women who consider themselves liberated from social conventions feel that they will be judged for going against the expectations that others have for women, even though that expectation has changed over time.

She can choose to focus on her career or choose not to have a career. Moreover, she can choose to stay single and childless or to have a traditional family. Indeed, women make choices that are right for them and they should never apologize for that.

2. Putting herself first

A strong woman knows that she can’t be her best for others unless she is already at her best. By taking care of her own needs before helping her family, boss or community, she is able to do more for them.

But first she has to be healthy, financially secure, and mentally strong. Strong women don’t apologize for prioritizing their to do list with taking care of her own needs.

3. Making plans without deferring to anyone

In the 1970’s a study found that prior to learning about women’s liberation, women felt the need to defer to men when making a decision. The need to ask permission of the men in their lives left them feeling resentment and anger.

Today, a strong woman knows that she is her own boss. She can make her own decisions about her future financial security, career, education, family or health. She doesn’t need to ask permission from anyone.

4. Being comfortable with sex

Consensual sex is healthy and natural to both men and women. But it’s only women who feel like we should hide the fact that we both have, and enjoy sex just as much as men do. A strong woman knows that she has control over her physical enjoyment. Beside that, she knows that she has a choice of whether or not to have a partner.

A strong woman rejects the negative labels that have been given to women who have sex frequently or outside of marriage. What she does with her body and whomever she wants is none of your business.

5. Speaking her mind

Words have power and a strong woman uses them to her advantage to communicate effectively. Strong women should never apologize for using language to express themselves; even if that includes swearing, raising her voice or saying unpopular things.

6. Saying no

‘No’ is a powerful word, and strong women will not apologize for using it liberally. A strong woman will decline to overextend herself so that she has more energy to devote to people and activities that are a priority.

Although it can be tempting to apologize for skipping your party, a strong woman knows that she’s not doing anything that needs your forgiveness. If you are upset that she can’t attend your event, that’s a negative emotion you put on yourself, not something that she has caused you to feel. Apologizing for someone else’s negative emotions is not what a strong woman will do.

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7. Having strong opinions

A strong woman will not apologize for having and expressing her unique thoughts, even if they differ from yours. She also has no need to apologize for holding seemingly conflicting beliefs.

For example when she expects a gentleman to hold the door for her while still expecting him to treat her as his equal.

Strong women are aware of the convention of devaluing traditional female roles and segregating gender in the workplace and they do not apologize for expressing their dissatisfaction with this.

Strong women will not apologize for expecting equal pay for equal work, equal treatment by the law and evolving gender roles.

8. Expecting more

A strong woman has a list of accomplishments that she wants for herself but she also knows that she is capable of much more. She not only expects herself to achieve, she expects the same of others. A strong woman knows what she wants to change and how to achieve it.

A study in Psychology of Women Quarterly found that when it comes to breaking gender barriers, women’s own expectations for their success were important to their sense of achievement.

Since gender discrimination still exists in the workplace, women bear a psychological and economic burden that men do not.

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