Mel’s Mindful Moments S1-E81

They say that in order to love others you must learn to love yourself. And then out of that self-love you can nurture someone else.

If this is true then how do I learn to love myself? Sometimes I don’t even like myself let alone love. I suppose the reason for this is I am very critical of myself. I feel this is necessary to hold myself accountable so that I can improve.

On the other hand, I know my flaws, of which are many, and I can’t and don’t love that about myself.

Before I continue I’ll let you know that I’m learning this lesson right along with you.

So what exactly is self-love?

For one, it means to take care of yourself by caring for your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. This need include everything from your physical, psychological and spiritual needs.

Self-love will look different for each person based on their own needs. For one, it could be forgiving yourself. It could be learning to trust yourself or giving yourself space from others. It could mean allowing yourself to be pampered … or maybe having some downtime to do something you want to do. It could mean caring for your body, your health, or your mental state of being. It could mean eating healthy, exercising or doing mindful meditations.

Ways to develop and improve self-love are:

Learning Self-awareness: Learn to become self-aware, knowing who you are, what you think, feel and want out of life.

Learning Self-care: Learn what things you need over what you want and then work on fulfilling your needs.

Develop Self-interest: Allow yourself time to do the things that bring joy into your life, be it hobbies, activities, spending time with friends or enjoying your own company for a while.

We can begin our journey to self-love by being kind and loving to ourselves. Allow ourselves time to heal, rejuvenate and begin having compassion for ourselves, just as we would for someone we care about. It’s important for our mental, physical and psychological health.

So, will you join me in this journey? I really hope so.

It will be the best thing we can do for our own well-being.

To your health and mine…. Let’s begin loving ourselves!