Ways of Practicing Self-Love
Everyone deserves a healthy dose of self-love and care in their day-to-day lives, regardless of situation and circumstance. Yet too often, we overlook our well-being as we are consumed with work, life, and the like. Practicing self-love can be a powerful tool in learning to show yourself some tender loving care and kindness, ultimately allowing yourself to thrive fully. Here are ways you can start honoring yourself today. Self-love is a state of self-esteem that develops from actions that support our physical, psychological, and spiritual growth. Loving yourself means appreciating your health and happiness, taking care of your own needs, not sacrificing your happiness to please others, and not settling for less than you deserve. Mindfulness is a strategy to increase self-love, as it can help you identify what you are feeling, thinking, and wanting. Mindfulness involves being fully present, opening our minds, and being aware of what is happening around us.
Daily gratitude is the key to happiness and self-love. Keep a gratitude journal or take 3 minutes each day to think about everything you need to be grateful for, such as your health, life, friends, etc. When we are comfortable, we feel ungrateful. Change it up and show gratitude every day. Develop a way to stop hating yourself in any form. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and find a way to heal. To incorporate self-love into your daily life, do not dwell on your mistakes and regrets. Instead of blaming yourself for things you cannot control, switch to self-forgiveness.
Self-love thrives when we take care of ourselves. It may be as simple as meeting our basic needs like good nutrition, plenty of fluids, exercise, and enough sleep, but it may seem like a little more. We can set aside a day to do something we love or to indulge ourselves in some way. Self-love is based on how we think and feel. Self-care is the thoughts and feelings that come alive no matter how we treat or indulge ourselves. Comparing yourself to other people’s external successes or accomplishments is a surefire way to feed negativity. Each of us has a different path in life, and when we desire to compare, we practice self-love by reminding ourselves of this.