How to Practice Self-Love

Self-love is the most important love of all. The way you love and treat yourself determines the way you treat others, as well as the way you speak and act. It affects everything in your life – your choices, your behaviour, and your relationships with others. Therefore, it’s imperative to love and accept yourself totally and to become more gentle, kind, and loving to yourself. Remember that if you don’t love yourself unconditionally, someone else’s love will never be enough. Moreover, unless you love and accept yourself completely, you won’t be able to love others. In fact, you can love others only to the degree to which you love and accept yourself. When you learn to love and accept yourself totally, this love will overflow, and it will be reflected in all your responses, actions, decisions, and behaviours towards others. So give yourself a warm hug now, and start practising the following:

1. Stop Criticising Yourself

Self-love begins with self-acceptance. You can start loving yourself when you stop any self-criticism or self-judgement. You need to start accepting yourself with all your flaws and imperfections. Each day remind yourself that you’re doing your best, that every experience is a learning experience, and that you’re already good enough.

2. Set Boundaries

With self-acceptance comes self-respect. When you love and accept yourself unconditionally, you’ll stand up for yourself and your rights when somebody crosses your boundaries. You will say “no” when you deal with people who are too demanding or disrespectful. You’ll love yourself more when you say no to work or activities that deplete you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

3. Practice Good Self-Care

Self-respect is followed by self-care. You’ll love yourself more when you take better care of your basic needs. You’ll begin to listen with love to your body’s messages, treasuring your body, mind, and soul. You’ll eat well, sleep well, and exercise well. You’ll begin to act in a kind, gentle, and compassionate manner toward yourself. Guided meditation for self love is an excellent way to care for your body and mind, keeping you focused on the things that matter and setting aside the negativity.

4. Find Your Perfect Self-Expression

Self-care flows into self-expression. When you begin to love yourself completely, you‘ll start to listen to your heart’s voice. You‘ll become clear of what you want and how to live your life. You’ll find your true purpose in life and contribute your special talents and gifts for the benefits of humanity.

5. Make a Daily List of the Positive Qualities You Appreciate About Yourself

Each moment in life, you have the opportunity to cultivate the unique qualities of love within you and share those qualities with others. When you love yourself unconditionally, you’ll acknowledge and nurture your good qualities. By focusing your attention on these positive attributes, you’ll bring them into your personal experience. You may choose to use the words “I am” before each attribute while repeating it to yourself several times throughout the day. For example, you may say to yourself, “I am joy…I am joy… I am joy…” This can be more powerful if you look at yourself in a mirror, looking deeply into your eyes, and then repeating the positive affirmation loudly to yourself. Although it might be challenging at first to accept all that stands between you and the mirror, if you release all your self-judgement, gradually, you’ll start to feel the love that wants to express itself through you.

6. Release the Need for Love and Approval from Everyone

When you love and accept yourself totally, you’ll let go of the need to be liked and approved by everyone. Remember that it only matters that you love and value yourself. Other people’s opinions are only statements of their self-judgement projected onto you or others. Therefore, their opinions have no bearing on who you really are. If you allow others’ negative opinions to weigh you down, you’ll be less effective in your goal achievement. To release the need for love and approval from others, you may repeat the following positive affirmations:
”I release the need for other people’s love and approval. To appreciate myself, I only need self-love, self-respect, and my own admiration. Love pours through me and I am an irresistible magnetic current of love.”

7. Surround Yourself with People You Feel Good With

When you begin to love yourself completely, you’ll surround yourself with people who genuinely love you and respect you for who you really are. You’ll let them encourage you and remind you how amazing you are. Anyone who makes you feel anything less than amazing shouldn’t be a part of your life.
If you choose to practice each day just one or two of these self-love actions, soon you’ll begin to love and accept yourself more. You’ll start to think, act, and behave in loving ways to all people because you’ll know that which you give out, it returns to you multiplied. And you’ll begin to attract loving people in your life who will treat you well. And finally, you’ll begin to see love everywhere around you, in each beautiful creation of the Universe, as you’ll realise that love is your divine birthright.

If you’d like to learn more about relationships, see our information about relationship counselling here!

Find more tips on how to cultivate unconditional self-love and self-acceptance in the life-changing book  “Another Way of Living: A Journey to Infinite Peace, Immense Joy and True Freedom (Book 1)” by Dr Snezhana Djambazova-Popordanoska, MD, PhD.
What is one thing you can do today to bring more happiness and joy into your life? 

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