The True Meaning of Self-Love

Loving yourself can be hard these days, especially with all of the social pressure everyone is facing from almost every angle of life. We all need to discover & remember where we came from. We all come from a higher source of power that puts us on this Earth to show love & kindness through our physical selves. Self-love is simply being aware of your own well-being & showing yourself the respect you deserve. In this blog post, I will be going over:

• How to gain self-love

• In what ways you can show self-love & self-appreciation

• How self-love makes you a happier person

Keep reading this post, so you can learn how to be kinder to yourself to truly enjoy your meaningful life.

How to Gain Self-Love

I am sure you have struggled with your self-esteem from time to time & that’s completely normal, but creating a deep understanding of what self-love is for you is going to positively & drastically change your life. Self-love is being aware of how you speak to yourself, what your thoughts of yourself are when you first look in the mirror, how you describe yourself to others, how you hold yourself in front of others, the differing thoughts between what you think of your body after you workout versus after you eat, etc. If you have never been aware of any of these things, that’s okay, you can start now. I can promise you that once you start becoming aware of how you truly see yourself, you will start to look at others, the world, & every situation from a different perspective. If you have kept up with me, you know that perspective is key to a soul-aligned life.

Once you have become aware of how you speak to yourself & what your opinions are on yourself, you can start to evaluate, by how you feel, if any of those thoughts are not serving you- meaning not kind, not appreciative, not positive & release them. If you want to go deeper into this, I suggest journaling about what you think of yourself now & how you would like to see yourself. Once you have a clear and specific goal of how you want to be treating yourself on a daily basis, you can create affirmations & supporting habits based on gaining self-love.

For example, if you see yourself as a lazy person who doesn’t get enough done in the day, only works out when you feel like it, not pretty, not motivated, sad, etc. that will always be how you see yourself. We want to shift those negative thoughts into positive ones. The feeling is everything- pick words that make you feel amazing. Our perspective needs to shift into- You have enough time in the day to get everything done AND do what you love. You are able to stick to a workout schedule that you enjoy & that works best for your body. You are beautiful on the inside & outside! You are motivated to always be a better person each day, but you know you are right where you need to be at this moment! You are happy knowing everything works out in your favor.

How to Show Yourself Love & Appreciation

There are so many ways to show yourself unconditional love & appreciation, but first, you have to be aware of it! In the practice above, you are becoming more aware of how you see yourself, and how you treat your mind, body, & spirit, but we want to make sure that you can come back to a feeling of balance. To become grounded & find balance, you need to give yourself patience & come back to who you are as a soul. Even if you think that sounds crazy right now, it will create a center for you to always come back to. When you start to become more aware & shift your mindset, sometimes you can get overwhelmed by it all trying to figure out how & what to say, figuring out why you don’t like yourself when you wear this or talk like that, etc. We tend to become more analytical, which can get tricky in our minds. If you struggle with anxiety, changing how you see yourself is a task in itself, so I want you to come back to your center by taking long deep inhales & exhales while focusing on one sentence (a mantra) that keeps you calm.

A few of my favorite relaxing mantras are: I am at peace. I am centered. I am calm. I am balanced. I am one with the Universe. I am with one with Source. I am a beautiful soul.

Many people believe that showing yourself love is only through self-care. Yes, doing a face mask in the tub is nice, & getting manicures/pedicures is great, but if you have the same feeling about yourself after the activity as you did before, is it really an act of self-love? The main focus of showing self-love is not necessarily the activity, it’s the feeling we want to possess from doing it. You can take any activity you love to do & show yourself more love & create inspiring energy around it. By the end of it, you should feel warm inside, happy that you’re you, & know that you are truly beautiful & you are able to get anything you desire because you are worthy!

Some activities that can easily be shifted to focusing on self-love & appreciation include:
a long & warm shower or bath- the water is cleansing you, showering you with love & beauty as it flows down your whole body, you are appreciating every body part for what it does & how it makes you feel, you’re cleansing your body physically, spiritually, & you’re emotionally connected to the love you feel for having this body to experience life with
a walk in nature- the scenery is made for you to enjoy, you’re listening to pure nature, your favorite uplifting music, self-love meditation, or you’re stating positive affirmations that make you feel energized & enthusiastic
a drive- you’re exploring while appreciating nature, noticing how the sky changes, & showing gratitude for everything around you as you drive
journal- write down as many positive self-love affirmations you can think of & repeat them to yourself, refine them to achieve the best feeling, or simply write down all the emotions you have been feeling & consciously be willing to release & make space for positivity

How Self-Love Makes You a Happier Person

Now that you have a deeper understanding of what self-love truly is, I can tell you the benefits of practicing self-love each & every day. The more you show yourself kindness, you begin to shed judgment on yourself & others. It slowly disappears, because you are focusing on love & compassion, not opinions & negativity. The more you focus on something, the more you create it, & the more it shows up in the physical world. You begin to actually feel beautiful & free, no matter what you’re wearing, what you ate that day, etc. You show yourself patience & compassion as you start to reveal your true self. You start to release built-up trauma that has been holding you back. As you practice different ways to start releasing the old habits that no longer serve you, you start to feel lighter & you gain a different type of respect for yourself. You start to hold yourself to a higher standard & you start to expect that from the people around you.

The further you go into these self-love practices, the more your physical reality will expand. Opportunities will start flowing to you & you begin to manifest your desires. You are at peace knowing, that whatever happens, it’s for a reason & it’s here to help you. You release fear & anxiety knowing everything is in your favor. You are realizing that there is always a positive outlook! You will start to look even more inward & give yourself love & compassion for being aware regardless of how much progress there still is to go. When you deeply love yourself, love will come to you in many ways!

Everyone is on their own journey, but I encourage you to start being kind to yourself today! Release the past, focus on the now, and what’s important- YOU!