Relating to Self is a podcast that explores how we relate to ourselves. Joachim has conversations with interesting people to learn how they improve their relationship with themselves in order to bring positive change to their lives.   

"In order for me to really know who I am, there's an element of myself that needs to relate to others." Songya began her journey of relating by thinking about how kind and compassionate she is toward others. This then turned into an exploration of how kind and compassionate she is toward herself.   

For Songya, relating to herself is intertwined with how she is perceived by those around her. She lets their perception of her guide her own. In all her connections, she strives to be a person one can be fully themselves with. And much like the kindness and compassion, she turned this back to herself, asking how much she allows herself to be authentic. 

Both Songya and Joachim agree that we cannot focus solely on self-love as this neglects parts of ourselves that still require some work.  Being authentic means acknowledging your shortcomings and, Songya points out, if we try to suppress and hide them, they find a way to express themselves in negative ways.  

Our guest has a website where you can learn more about leadership and executive coaching: http://songyakesler.com/ 

Songya would like to leave us with the following sentiment: Learning to express our emotions (good, bad, and ugly) in a healthy way is a giant leap towards cultivating self-love because it requires us to accept how we are feeling and to trust ourselves enough to let it out. Trust and acceptance (of self and others) are paths to love.

You can find Joachim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joachimbrackx 

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