What does Self Love mean to you? Is it just a word or do you have a deep understanding of how to practise it?
To me it is one the most misunderstood nouns and verbs. I always ‘thought’ I knew, only to find out that I had no clue and certainly was not exercising it enough in my life.
For most women it is far easier to give than to receive. We give endlessly in the outside world. We give to our partner, children, our relatives, job, co-workers, friends and animals.
I notice when I don’t love myself, I harden. I have seen it with my women clients.
We get tough. We doubt. We question ourselves. We lose self-confidence. We run too much male energy and forget the power of the feminine.
To make this concept of self-love more practical, I’d like to offer an exercise. Want to play with me?
Let’s look at all the ways we love somebody else. To make it even more fun, I am going to use the example of someone who just fell in love:
We are attracted to the other person. We care for them. We offer compliments and appreciations. We see their strengths. We encourage their talents, gifts and skills. We inspire them. Uplift them. We want the best for them. We forgive their mistakes or shortcomings. Smile at them. Tell them how beautiful they are. We listen. We love to touch them. We take good care of them. Maybe cook for them. Make them feel good. Admire them.
Please feel free to add to this list.
Now I’d like you to turn all these sentences around and ask yourself:
Are you attracted to yourself?
Do you care for yourself? How?
Do you appreciate yourself? How do you show it?
Do you see your strengths?
Do you know how to encourage, inspire, uplift yourself?
….
Do you see where I am leading with this?
It is quite easy, almost simple and yet often so difficult in everyday life. We forget. Everybody and everything else seems to be more important and pressing.
Is it easy for yourself to put yourself first. If you are empty, you have nothing to give.
Self-Love is Self-Care.
It is a practise.
It is a gift for your body.
It is the fuel for your heart and soul.
As musician Miten wrote in one of his songs: “It is the love for yourself that you share!”
Please Love yourself.
