Almost every one of us knows what is it like to love someone’. To love someone means experiencing desires, emotions, attachments and admirations etc.
But unfortunately, very few know there is a phenomenon of loving your own-self’. Don’t confuse the concept of self-love with self obsession or being introvert or egoistic.
Loving yourself is a beautiful concept that helps you grow into a better person and eventually makes the world around you a better place to live. Loving yourself means accepting, respecting and rewarding yourself. What we think about ourselves and how much we believe in ourselves can greatly affect almost everything around us. Our relationships, our dreams, our work, our faith, our future; hence everything is a reflection of the self-image we have of ourselves.
Loving yourself is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process that leads us to eternal bliss. By adopting the following positive practices you can achieve your goal of self-love:
1. Forgive Yourself
We all are human and to err is human. If you have committed a mistake or blunder in your past life try to forget it and move on. I’m not saying that you adopt a selfish attitude and don’t take responsibility for your actions. My point is – don’t keep on blaming yourself for the past mistakes. Learn from your mistakes, then forgive yourself and move on.
2. Be Real
Being yourself means being happy. Allow yourself to be real, act real, and speak what you feel. Don’t try to fake your feelings and emotions. Just be yourself and you will feel a difference in your approach towards everything.
3. Enjoy Yourself
Indulge in activities that make you feel happy. Don’t think of any activity as childish or silly. If you are enjoying it, just go for it. Enjoy and laugh all your heart out.
4. Take Care Of Your Body
Your body has a right over you. You need to take care of your body. Various steps you can adopt to take care of your body includes:
- Eating healthy and nutritious diet
- Taking energy boosting foods
- Regular exercise
- Physical fitness routine
5. Overcome Negative Believes About Yourself
Many a times the opinions and negative thoughts of people around us create a negative image of us within us. We start believing ourselves to be the same. These negative believes are a major hindrance in our life goals. We have to overcome these negative believes in order to live life to the fullest.
Whatever others are saying, always create a positive image of yourself in your mind. Don’t let others to pull your self-image down.
6. Stop Criticism
Don’t criticise yourself for petty things; not having the perfect body, not performing well at job/exams, not coming up to someone’s expectations etc. Stop criticising yourself all the time. This will only bring more negativity in your life. Love yourself right now, unconditionally.
7. Take Time To Meditate
Try to maintain a regular meditation routine. Spend some time to relax and focus on your internal self. This will help you negate the negative and embrace the positives thoughts.
8. Discard Negative Thoughts
Focusing on the negatives things in life is not a healthy habit. Everyone has less fortune times in life. If you keep on focusing on negative events in life you can never see the positivity of life. Try to discard your negative thoughts.
9. Support Yourself
Do anything to help and support yourself. Ask your family and friends to help you. You deserve to be happy. If need arises take help from a support group or a counsellor.
10. Praise Yourself
As criticism pulls you down, similarly praise can elevate you. Praise yourself, your actions, your talents and everything about you. Don’t wait for other to praise you. Do it yourself, for yourself.
11. Celebrate And Reward Yourself
Self-love demands you to reward yourself. Celebrate your success and achievements. Have a nice dinner at your favourite place, get yourself something new that you wanted for so long, go for shopping etc. Appreciate your struggles and hard work and reward yourself.
12. Give Yourself The Gift Of Time
Self-love also means that you give yourself time;
- time to relax
- time to enjoy
- time to laugh
- time to think
Our daily life challenges push us into a constant struggling routine. We should give ourselves a break. Laugh, enjoy and have fun. Go watch your favourite movie, enjoy your favourite cuisine, read a book, anything that makes you relax. Take out time for yourself, you need it and you deserve it.
13. Reflect On Your Positive Attributes Daily
We all have some positive traits. List down all your positive attributes and go through them daily. You can also make a Things I Have Done’ list. In which you can add all good things you do daily or you have done for others. This will help you develop a positive image of yourself.
14. Mirror Work
Look yourself in mirror daily. Not just the way you do it daily to get ready for work or something. Do it consciously, eye-to-eye with your inner self. Tell yourself that no matter what, you will be there for yourself.
At least once a day, say it to your inner being, I Love You no matter what”.
15. Do It Now
Don’t wait for any new thing to happen in your life. Don’t wait till you get a new job, a house, a new partner. Just start loving yourself from this very moment. You will see the difference. Once you will love yourself, you will love everything and everyone around you.
The journey from self-awareness to self-acceptance can be long and exhausting. But it is worth it.
Talk to us:-
- What’s your idea of loving your own self?
- What in your opinion are other ways of loving your own self.
