Self love is simply a love that you have for yourself. It sounds simple, but I can assure you its one of the hardest loves master. Truthfully we don’t even talk about it so much as it seems selfish. Our society has preconditioned us to do what society says over what we truly love and enjoy doing.
Self love is not only a foundation for a healthy mind and life, but it’s also essential if we want to love others freely. With such foundation, the need to look for love in other people is not required any longer. All that is necessary is a moment of calm to look inward and find love in yourself. If you cant relate to this sentence, worry not, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t able to find the love for yourself within, it just means that you need to practice it some more.
When you achieve a healthy level of self love, you won’t feel negative towards eliminating all that doesn’t bring joy to your life. You will put clear boundaries in with pleasure, and you will communicate your feelings with reason. The emotional mess that comes from being unhappy within will dissipate, and even the hardest decisions can be made with ease as we become more honest, grateful, compassionate and most importantly, authentic to ourselves.
So where do you start, you wonder?
You start today, in the quarantine. There is no time like now, with minimal distractions. This time is required to focus on yourself and identify only what brings joy and what doesn’t. Anything that doesn’t bring joy start slowly eliminating. You will be able to do this easier as the love for yourself grows.
In case you say I don’t have time to deep think? Then you ought to start on it right away as you need the self-love more than anyone else, but I promise it’s enjoyable and it’s fun. It will bring you so much joy and happiness that your life will reach another level.
Self love is a practice and requires time to nurture. I have written a manual on my daily, weekly and monthly routine including tools and exercises to help you master a self love.
If you are in the beginning stage, start small until you get used to a feeling.
Practice self love through self-care.
Dedicate one day a week to yourself and take yourself out for a walk, run yourself a bath, read a book, apply a mask, sleep for 8 hours, do a workout, make healthy food for yourself. The small steps will get you into a healthy self loving routine in no time. Don’t feel bad for taking time away from your work, husband, kids to dedicate it to yourself. You will feel so much better therefore showering your loved ones with even more love and attention.
Before you head to sleep list all the things in your head from that day that you are grateful for and see how much better you feel when you wake up the next day. Small shifts in mindset can have a tremendous change in life. Gratitude eliminates fear and anxiety as we slowly start realising how much we have to be grateful for and the more you practice gratitude the better you will feel.
Ease into Meditation
Meditation changed my life, literally. It changed how I feel about things, how I perceive situations, and it increased an overall love I have for myself. Meditation is so easy to get into, and I use my favourite app called INSIGHT TIMER to access thousands of meditations on whatever issue I’m looking to work through. You can also look for meditations on Youtube and Soundcloud. Check my manual to here my favourite meditation and what I use on a daily.
One other tool that changed my life is affirmations, and I have them on my mirror as I recite them a first thing in the morning. My favourite affirmation is “I love and accept myself” and repeating these words over and over again help change the frequency of your entire body and mind.
Give it a go and see how good it feels. If self love and using tools such as meditation and affirmations don’t resonate with you, worry not, you need to give it a go and practice.
The sooner you start loving and accepting yourself for the beautiful and unique soul that you are the sooner your life will change for the better.
Keep me posted regardless how far down in your journey you are. I would love to help any way I can.
Feel free to check my self love manual by clicking on this link.
Love you so much.
Tania xxx
Excellent read! I agree on every point mentioned. Also have a hobby of your own helps to self care.