Find new ways to show love to yourself
Wellbeing & Meditation
LOVE is in the air this week. It is Valentine’s week and a time when we think about love…. Our love life, and the love in our life and if there is a vacancy, how to find the love of your life.
The love in our life is based on the love we put there, the love we show ourselves, the love we put out and the love we allow, invite and attract in. Can you love anyone if you don’t love yourself ? The journey to love always starts with yourself. This is something to think about and can be quite uncomfortable for many people.
If you love yourself, what does loving yourself look like to you? This is a good question to reflect on. Do you love yourself conditionally or unconditionally?
For some, loving yourself means having the chocolate biscuit. For others loving yourself means not having the chocolate biscuit. It could even mean having it one day and not having it the next. Loving yourself is about listening to your needs and responding.
Loving yourself also means wanting the best for yourself, making the best of yourself and giving the best to yourself. This means pushing yourself when you are in good form but know you could be and do better. It means being kind to yourself when you are down and need a lift up.
This is not how I have always treated myself. Many of us, including myself in the past are very hard on ourselves and kick ourselves when we are down and coast and sit back when things are relatively good. When things are good, that is the right time to drive yourself if you want to make the best of yourself, your opportunities and your life.
We all have a mind, a body and spirit. If you really love yourself, the self-love translates to nourishing and taking care of your complete self. If you are doing this congratulate yourself. If not, take some time to reflect this week on how you could do this better. It all depends on your starting point and current priorities. Loving yourself in body would mean doing things that are good for your health, wellbeing and enjoyment of life. It will mean allowing yourself to enjoy everything you eat.
Loving yourself in mind could mean reading books that open and expand your mind, and spending time with people and doing things that inspire and challenge you to explore new ideas and learn new things. And loving yourself in spirit involves doing things that feed your heart, passion and soul every day.
A great question to ask yourself at the end of every day if you really love yourself is: ‘How hard did I try today?’ I find this to be a sobering question. Did your efforts match your heart-felt priorities? It is not how hard did I try last week or last month but how hard did I try today. If you want to develop any area of your life or want the garden of your life to look different this time next year, plant the seeds for this transformation and water, cultivate and weed your garden regularly. Love is the highest power and transforms everything it touches.
If you want more love in 2018, show love to yourself and others and the world will give it back to you in abundance Wish you a loving and fun week finding new ways of showing love to yourself and those around you.