Seven ways to practice Self-love.

A week of loving your self unconditionally.

If you’ve been feeling a little less than great lately, it's time to give yourself some love. Build your self-esteem and self-confidence through practicing self-love. Here are 7 ways to love yourself. Challenge yourself and do one each day for a week. By spending 7 days with a daily practice it  will help you start to get in the habit of loving yourself, which is really the key to becoming the best version of yourself.

I guarantee by the end of this week you will be walking taller and looking at life from a new perspective! 

The truth is you are the only person you have to spend the rest of your life with so you better start loving yourself.

Self-love is about taking care of yourself like you would a friend or family member. It means having a high regard for your happiness and well-being. Many people have the misconception that self-love is narcissistic, or the same as having a ‘big ego’. 

First off, self love is not selfish.

What self love is: An appreciation for your worth, and attention to your happiness and well-being. 

If only it were as easy as it sounds.

Self love is a process

Why shouldn’t you love yourself and show yourself compassion? Why can’t you look at yourself in a mirror and smile because you’re happy being you? You deserve self-love and you deserve to be happy.

Studies have shown that people who regularly practice self love are happier. They are more productive, not only in their personal life but also at work. People who practice self love also let go of the past hurts. They're able to forgive themselves for whatever didn't go right, because they are practicing and building up the muscles of resilience. They also are able to elevate their lives because when you love yourself and you look out for yourself, you can actually raise yourself to a higher level. When you're no longer looking in the past, you're also able to eliminate negativity. When we don't love ourselves, when we are in that self loathing, self hatred realm, we tend to let in a whole bunch of negativity that just drags you down.

How do we create self love? By saying it to ourselves, and taking care of ourselves as we would someone we are in love with. Appreciate amazing you are. All the stuff you have been through in your  life up until now has made you this way and there will never be anyone just like you with your perspective and gifts and talents and mind and eyes and way of being in the world.You are the only one of YOU. And you ROCK!  Try these seven ways to love yourself and notice the difference a week can make.

Seven days of Self Love

DAY ONE : LOVE LETTER

Write a love note to yourself. This can be really hard, especially if your self-esteem is pretty low, but it is worth a try. If you have a hard time writing one to your current self, try writing one to your younger self. What would you tell her or him? Make sure to fill it with love. As if you were someone who had a total crush on you and could not stop thinking about  how HOT and AMAZING you are, go all out about yourself. Your hair, your smile, your wit, your strong arms and legs and the shape of your ass, etc, etc, just gush over you.

DAY TWO: AFFIRM

“Put simply, whatever we say or think is an affirmation. All of your self-talk, the dialogue in your head, is a stream of affirmations.” Louise Hays

Create affirmations of self love. From your love note, extract at least 10 positive, self-loving statements. These will become your affirmations. Write them out, expressing them in the present tense. You want your mind to believe it is happening NOW. Begin your statements using  the words “I am, I can, I will , I have”.  Write down 5- 10 for each. Some examples are:

• I am awesome

• I’m a total hottie

• I am whip-smart

• I light up the room

Practice saying your affirmations to yourself at least once a day. Better yet, write them on post-it notes and put them in places you will see them often: on your bathroom mirror or on the fridge.

 DAY 3: RECHARGE YOUR BATTERY

Restore your energy supplies by resting and engaging in activities that recharge you.

Resting is not just about your sleep schedule. It is about how you spend your free time or how you relieve stress after a busy day.

To feel your best, you need adequate rest. 7-9 hours sleep is the optimum amount to aim for. Try to keep a consistent sleep schedule because rest is an essential part of taking care of yourself, and a vital component of your self-love practice.

Other ways to rest and recover are to focus on activities that you find relaxing and recharging. For me this usually means reading or listening to a podcast.I prefer non-fiction or personal development books. If you’re not a big reader, Audio books are a great alternative. As well as helping you relax, reading is a great way to expand your knowledge. 

Yoga is a great way to relieve stress after a busy day and encourage your body to relax. Even just doing a few sun salutations or practicing a few poses before bed can make a big difference in your energy levels.

 DAY 4: MIRROR MIRROR.

Look in the mirror and focus on what you like about yourself. If you can’t pinpoint something straight away, keep looking until you find something. Once you have found something or things you like, give yourself a compliment.

Since the mirror reflects back to you whatever you are feeling, it's a great way to see what thoughts you need to change in order to be in a more positive state of self love.

“ When I was around 8, I looked in the mirror and said, “You’re either going to love yourself or hate yourself.” And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.

-Queen Latifah

DAY 5: VISUALIZE

Visualize achieving one goal that you want. Close your eyes and  see it in great, realistic detail. Do this for 5 minutes (if you can, visualize for at least 5 minutes everyday). See yourself clearly doing the thing that you want to accomplish. The more you can see it, hear it, feel it and even smell it, the more your brain believes it to already be happening. By practicing visualizing your goal as reality, you are in fact paving the way to making it happen.

DAY 6: GET DRESSED

Today, spend a little extra time getting dressed. Pick out your favorite, nice, clean, clothes. If that happens to be your Lulus, fine, but take the time to groom yourself. Give yourself a manicure, a pedicure, body scrub in the shower, shave, lotion, cream- the whole shebang. Go all out! Put on some makeup and your favorite perfume or cologne.

(Note: you may want to combine # 6 and #7 on the same day)

DAY 7: DATE DAY

Go on a date with your BFF (aka YOU). Have lunch or tea alone at a nice cafe. Enjoy your own company. It doesn't have to be a big meal or a fancy place, but take yourself somewhere nice. Make time to spend with yourself and just bask in your own presence. Bring your journal if you like, or a book to read. Or just relax and have a good time with the one you love.

After a week of practicing self love, note how you feel. Are you more content and confident? Remember practicing self-love is not a one time thing, it is a process. Once you start making these little actions part of your regular routine, they will become habit and you will be reflecting your self love back to everyone around you.