Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but February is still with us and is known as Love Month. So I hope you found a way to share some love with someone last week, and to share more love throughout the rest of this month – especially in your most important relationship – the one with YOURSELF!
Here are some suggestions based on Christine Arylo’s 10 Branches of Self-Love – pick a few and start practicing greater self-love!
1. Practice saying the statement in the photo above at least once a day: “I am not beautiful like you, I am beautiful like me.” This helps you stop comparing yourself to whatever / whomever you’re NOT supposed to be.
2. When you feel yourself emotionally triggered, restrain yourself from acting out the emotion. Instead, find a time you can get quiet with yourself and do some self-inquiry. Get in touch with the emotion, feel it fully in your body, ask it what message it is bringing you that may not be true, release it, and replace it with the opposite.
3. Make a quick assessment of where you’re at with your physical, mental, material, spiritual, and emotional well-being. If there is an area that is out of balance, take the time to take care of it.
4. Before taking action on an important decision, get quiet with yourself and ask your Inner Guidance to guide you on the best action to take. If you don’t get an answer right away, keep listening. Only take the action if it comes from your intuition / gut, not if it comes from your head.
5. Ask yourself if you feel your talents and abilities are being well-expressed out in the world? If yes, give yourself some hearty acknowledgment for that! If no, ask yourself what avenue of greater expression you can provide for yourself.
6. Make an assessment of how you treated yourself the last time you may have made a mistake. Were you compassionate? Have you forgiven yourself for it (which means that you got the lesson)? As you move forward, resolve to treat yourself with greater compassion and forgiveness.
7. Take a day to simply observe the thoughts you have going through your head. At the end of the day, assess if there were more self-supportive and self-empowering thoughts. Or were they thoughts like “I didn’t get enough done, I don’t believe that can happen for me, I’m afraid for my future, etc.” – thoughts that don’t support you in what you desire for your life. Resolve to move forward with more self-empowering thoughts.
8. Regularly throughout the day, check in with yourself and ask yourself what you may be needing in that moment. Is there something you need from someone else? Find a kind way to ask for it. Is there something you can provide to yourself? Find a way to provide it.
9. Is there a situation in your life where you need to put down some boundaries – with others or even with yourself? Find a kind way to ask for respect or find a way to give yourself greater respect.
10. Finally, are you having fun yet? Have you been able to take some joy from your day in even the smallest way? Give yourself adequate time to play, have fun, and rejuvenate in between your duties and obligations.
In the comments below – or on my Facebook page here – let me know what you chose to practice and especially how it felt for you!
And if you need some support or guidance in any of these areas of self-love, set up a free consultation with me here to discuss if we are a match for working together.