It is easier to love others than to love yourself, but the phrase ' loving yourself ' has been over-used. It's about time we came up with a new saying. Just kidding! In reality, self-love means recognizing your value as an individual and truthfully living your own life. Loving yourself can be hard at times, but you can start by spending just 10 minutes each day doing something you enjoy like hitting the gym or watching a funny YouTube video. With practice and patience, you will eventually learn to truly love yourself the way you deserve to be loved!
The First Path
Improve Your Intuition
1: Overcome self-doubt. Many people struggle to let go of negative thoughts about themselves. These negative thoughts frequently come from people whose opinions we value and from whom we seek to love and accept.
2: Avoid perfectionism. Some people have a hard time accepting anything less than perfection from themselves. Take three simple steps if you find yourself pursuing perfection and feeling bad about yourself when you are less than perfect. Stop your current thought process, then focus on the effort that will be required to work toward a goal, and then consistently apply the required effort.
3: Remove your negative filter. It is a bad habit to focus solely on the negative aspects of your life. Excessive focus on unfavorable events in your life can make them appear disproportionately significant. If you find yourself complaining that everything bad happens to you, try to find some evidence to the contrary; it is extremely unlikely that everything is truly bad.
4:Never refer to yourself negatively. Calling yourself a name reduces you from a human being to a single aspect of yourself that you dislike.
After being fired from a job, saying "I am such a failure" is inaccurate and unfair to you.
5: Don't automatically assume the worst. It's easy to assume that in every situation, the worst-case scenario will occur. Changing your inner thoughts to be realistic or truthful, on the other hand, can help you avoid the generalization or exaggeration that comes with assuming the worst.
6: Update your internal script. When you notice yourself thinking negatively, acknowledge the feeling, identify the source of the feeling, and then consciously make a new statement rewriting your thought as a more positive one.
For example, if you forget to send an important work-related email, you may be thinking to yourself, "I am so stupid!" "How could I possibly have done something like that?"
"I feel stupid right now," you say to yourself.
The Second Path
The Benefits of Self Love
1: Make a list of your positive traits and think about them every day. This may be difficult for someone who has a habit of thinking negatively about themselves but try to add one positive thing about yourself to the list once a week. Think about your entire list at the end of each day
2: Make a time investment in yourself. Don't feel bad if you spend time thinking about and reflecting on yourself and your life. It is critical to make time and allow yourself to love yourself. You'll probably discover that doing so allows you to devote more time to helping others.
3: Give yourself a celebration and a reward. This is the most enjoyable aspect of self-love: rewarding oneself! If you've accomplished something significant, treat yourself to a nice dinner at your favorite posh restaurant. Consider all of the hard work you put in every day and find a reason to treat yourself.
4: Create a strategy for dealing with setbacks or negative feedback. Take note of what tends to deviate you from your current path of self-love, and then decide how to deal with it. Recognize that you have no control over the words or actions of others, but you do have control over your responses and reactions.
5: See a therapist. Exploring negative thoughts and identifying emotional triggers can bring up painful feelings or memories from your past.
A therapist who has experience dealing with painful pasts can help you navigate the experience of recovery without causing you to relive painful memories.
6: Recite positive affirmations daily. Find some positive thoughts that make you feel better and repeat them every day. This may appear awkward or cheesy at first, but the habit will cause the positive thoughts to sink in, and you will begin to believe them, even if you don't at first.
A good positive affirmation to promote self-love is: "I am a whole, worthy individual, and I respect, trust, and love myself.”
7: Do things that make you happy. Consider how good you feel physical, emotionally, and spiritually. Do whatever it takes to feel good in a variety of ways; this could include exercise, meditation, dancing, and keeping a positivity journal. Create a routine that feels good to you and stick to it.
8: Consider the benefits of practicing self-love. When you devote time to loving and rewarding yourself, you will most likely notice improvements in other areas of your life. Take note of whether you have more energy or if you can be more present with others. You may begin to feel more in control of your life as you begin to feel more in charge of the choices you make.
The Third Path
A Loving-Kindness Meditation
1: Recognize Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM). LKM is a type of meditation that increases feelings of kindness toward yourself and others. LKM can provide you with the tools you need to master self-love.
2: Adopt the LKM principles. Loving-Kindness-Meditation entails loving without regard for expectations or conditions. It inspires you to love without reservation (either of yourself or others).
Judgments of ourselves or others frequently lead to dissatisfaction in our relationships with others or in our minds. Learning to love without judgment is a form of selfless love.
3: Take a deep breath. Begin by inhaling slowly and deeply. Allow your chest to fill with air, expanding from your diaphragm, while sitting comfortably in a chair. Then, slowly and completely exhale.
4: Use positive affirmations to encourage yourself. Begin repeating the following affirmations to yourself as you continue to take deep breaths: May I achieve my goals and live in happiness and peace.
May I be able to love others completely?
I'd like to be safe for myself and my family.
I desire a healthy life for myself, my family, and my friends.
May I grow in my ability to forgive myself and others?
5: Identify any negative reactions to the positive affirmations you have. If you find yourself having negative thoughts while repeating these affirmations, consider who is causing them. Determine which people you have difficulty feeling unconditional love for. Consider these people as you repeat your affirmations.
6: Consider someone you have a good feeling about. Repeat the affirmations while keeping that person in mind.
7: Consider someone with whom you have a neutral feeling. Repeat the affirmations while keeping in mind the person about whom you feel neutral.
8: Allow the affirmations' positivity to fill you. Repeat the affirmations without thinking about anyone in particular. Instead, concentrate on the positive aspects of the affirmations. Allow feelings of positivity to fill you, and then radiate that positivity out to the entire planet.
