We love love! With February being the official month of love, it’s a great time to celebrate our friends, family and those that matter the most to us. But, it can be all too easy to forget about one of the most important loves there is: self-love.
Loving ourselves doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Harsh self-criticism and negative judgments are much more common to most of our inner dialogues. But, without love, compassion and genuine affection for ourselves, we can never really be at our best or give the best of ourselves to others.
This month we wanted to share with you some of our favourite ways to make positive self-reflection a little more habitual and hopefully bring more self-love into your everyday.
Start your day with love
Before getting out of bed and into your day, take a moment to remind yourself of your worthiness. Breathe love in and out. Take time to meditate and journal – even if it’s only for ten minutes each morning, it will make an incredible impact on the energy you bring with you into the rest of your day.
Mind your words
The words we use, both aloud and in thought, have a huge impact. Gently steer yourself away from self-criticism and self-judgment and instead reframe your thoughts towards the positive, for example: “I love and accept myself completely and unconditionally.” The tricky thing is, you must try not to judge when you find yourself practicing self-criticism. The key here is to notice it, distance yourself from it, and let it pass.
Expand your interests
Try something new. Visit a new place, learn a language, try out that new yoga class. Discover healthy foods that make you feel amazing. Put your phone on silent and spend some time doing things that make you feel alive. Make a deliberate attempt to look for opportunities to do things that you know you are good at – this will work wonders for your confidence. Set aside more time to indulge and improve your skills, and your self-esteem will thank you ten-fold.
Live in appreciation
Be grateful, both for the world around you and for the person that you are. Appreciate your talents, kindness, your generosity, what a great friend you are. Focusing on gratitude is one of the fastest ways towards self-love.
Trust yourself
We all have moments when we feel confused, unsure or scared. At these times it is important to remember that the answer to all our happiness really does come from within. Trust yourself, and have confidence in your abilities. Know that you are capable of making important changes for yourself, as long as you believe you can.
Own your potential
Love yourself enough to believe in the limitless opportunities available to you. Don’t let percieved boundaries or the uncertainty of unchartered waters stop you from reaching for something you want.
Forgive yourself
Learn from your mistakes and go forward. If you have made mistakes in the past that had caused you to feel less worthy, then you need to forgive yourself. All of us make mistakes, but the key here is learning from our mistakes and moving onwards.
Look after your body
The connection between your brain, body and your emotions are undeniably linked. Unsurprisingly, a lack of self-love and negative perception can be an underlying cause of many health conditions. This is why it is so important that you take care of yourself with proper nutrition and regular exercise. Your body is a temple, so treat it that way!
Be patient
Understand that the art of self-love is always going to be a work in progress, so don’t be too hard on yourself if it takes a little while to shift some of those old habits.
