February is a month of love. In my last post, I wrote about 5 ways to say I love you without saying the words. When we think about loving somebody and showing them you care, it is equally important to love yourself and know that self love comes first. Self love is the first step to feeling good about yourself through acceptance and gratitude and extending to loving others.
What is self love?
Self love is accepting yourself and loving yourself for who you are. Sometimes we get so busy in the grind of life and various responsibilities, that we may forget who we are. We may take roles of mom, wife, sister, colleague, friend, mentor, neighbor or aunt, but never forget to take care of yourself first. You can not give out of an empty bucket, so remember to fill yours first. To avoid being physically or emotionally drained because of what life may bring us sometimes, regularly taking care of your physical, mental and spiritual needs is a must.
Self love is not selfish instead it is necessary. It is very important to invest in a relationship with yourself. According to Psychology Today, self love is an intentional practice to learn and cultivate. The process of self love begins with the mere task of being able to appreciate you for you.
Accepting and appreciating yourself is the first and most important step in starting and developing self love. As it is, the world is filled with negativity and pessimism. The least we can do is love ourselves first, which leads us to loving and embracing others.
Here are my 12 ideas to practice self love:
- Know that you are enough
You are more than the roles you play. Accept yourself without hesitation. You are worthy and valuable because you are unique and special. You are a masterpiece and learning and growing with wisdom and knowledge.
2. Believe that you are doing your best
You are not perfect, as no one is. But you put your best efforts in every situation and become the best version of yourself. Pat yourself on the back every time you put your best efforts, and make it a habit to never give up and keep doing your best. Remember that it is not the destination but the journey that maters.
3. Do what you love and love what you do
I am fortunate to be in a job that I love. I also love giving back to community in my small ways. Find your love and passion. Change your mindset and start loving what you do. Never take anything for granted. Every day passed is special and nothing less than extraordinary. Live in the present and enjoy it.
4. Be kind to yourself
We all fail at things sometimes. Success comes in knowing that we learn from our mistakes and failures, and learning to move on. Accept your failures or disappointments, and learn to let go. Be kind and accept yourself first before going out to the world.
Did you know that Random Acts of Kindness Day is Feb 17? In addition to spreading kindness to others, remember first to be kind to yourself this month and going forward.
5. Love yourself for who you are
Each one of us is special in our own way. Love and completely trust yourself in your potential and talent. You have something special to give to others. Believe it and love yourself with all your heart.
6. Make self care a priority
Self care is critical for self love. Taking care of yourself through self care habits brings healing, energy, and focus. Read this post about emotional, physical, social, professional, psychological/mental, and spiritual self care ideas.
7. Connect regularly with people who bring the best out of you
It can be as simple as meeting up with friends or talking to a distant family member. It can be doing something with a group of people on a regular basis that motivates and inspires you. It may be a hobby or a community service project, volunteering or mentoring someone.
8. Embrace yourself for who you are
Accept and appreciate yourself for who you really are: a work in progress. Learn to embrace yourself for who you are, not what role you are trying to fit in. Do not be too hard on yourself and cut yourself some slack now and then. It is a positive feeling to love yourself despite your flaws and shortcomings. We are all humans, growing and evolving in our journey.
9. Take out time daily to think and self reflect
Taking out time for yourself is very important. You may meditate, spend some time in solitude with only your thoughts, write in a journal, have a conversation with yourself- anything that helps you connect with yourself which can lead to inner peace and happiness.
10. Have a gratitude journal
Having an attitude of gratitude makes all the difference in the world. You will see yourself change and grow in this journey of life, and being thankful and ending every day with gratitude will make a huge positive impact in this journey. Start journaling today. Your attitude can make such a positive difference in your life. Try practicing it and share the change you see with others.
11. Exercise your body and mind
Physical exercise is a great form of self love as you learn to take care of your body, the vehicle for your spirit. It is always a good practice to take out time to move your body. Same goes for mental exercise to keep your mind sharp. Reading, doing puzzles or solving something are all wonderful ways to exercise your brain. The last but not least is spiritual growth. Make it a habit to take care of your spiritual health too.
12. Pay attention to your thoughts
Mind your thoughts and make sure they are positive thoughts. It is a habit which can be cultivated over time. Once you know how to control your thoughts, you can do anything. It brings so much positive energy, optimism and hope into your life.
Wrapping up
To end this post, I would like to emphasize that self love is very important and it starts by accepting and appreciating yourself for who you are. I wrote about 12 simple ways to practice self love. Self affirmations, daily or weekly, are a great starting point. Knowing that you are enough, doing your best, loving what you do and doing what you love, being kind to yourself, and connecting with yourself are just some of the ways to practice self love.
Dear readers, we would love to hear from you. Please share your self love ideas and practices. You may comment below or send an email to nishtha@dawnandhope.com.
29 replies on “12 ways to practice self love”
In the past I had built up a good self care and self love practice which somehow over the past year has all gone downhill. I am really working on giving myself breaks from social media, believing in myself and knowing I am worthy. It takes a daily commitment to put what matters first in my life.
Knowimg that you are enough and being kind to one’s self are my two favourites. And yes, I agree that the kind of company one keeps determines how one is going to feel. If we surround ourselves with people who bring us down, we will always feel worthless. But when we surround ourselves with the right crowd, we’ll get inspired, motivated and be netter versions of ourselves.
These are great tips, especially the gratitude journal idea. I struggled with self love in the past, even though I’m past that the journal would’ve probably made me love myself even faster. Thanks for sharing!
I love your ideas. And I do try to do many of these. I make sure to take time out daily to do something I love, which is reading!
This is so good to read. It reminds us ladies to be kind to ourselves.
thanks for sharing. sometimes we get lost in whatever we are doing that we even forget to love iurselves. thanks for the reminder. i will consider all the things above to help me get back on the track of loving myself
Self-love is an essential part of our lives, but we often tend to forget about that. I’ll try to follow these points to be a happier person. 🙂
There are still those who confuse loving oneself with selfishness when instead it is a form of feeling loved first of all by oneself, to then be able to love and learn this from others. Important and your every point should be the foundation in everyone’s life.
These are great pieces of advice. I think the hardest is to get to love yourself for who you are. Once you manage to do this, the rest just comes to you.
Great tips I feel very disconnected lately, but I think that is just the pandemic talking these days, maybe one day I will feel more a part of but for now I am ok with my JOMO.
Great tips. It means accepting your emotions for what they are and putting your physical, emotional and mental well-being first. So now we know that self-love motivates you to make healthy choices in life. When you hold yourself in high esteem, you’re more likely to choose things that nurture your well-being and serve you well.
You are so right it is so important to love yourself and do what you love as well as practising gratitude so that you can love others.
Fabulous post! This was a wonderful read and really reminded me to take time for myself.
This is a beautiful article!! Thank you so much for sharing! LOVE LOVE LOVE all of those tips!
Thanks for sharing. I think this is a good start to practicing self love.
Very good read. I have given similar tips to my mentees. To love themselves and do what makes them happy and not for the world around them. You gave good examples with each of your points that made it easy to understand what we need to do to achieve each step. Thank You
I am so glad I found your post. We need to remember this especially during these COVID times. I need to slow down and really practice some of these tips!
I always enjoy the wisdom you share. This is not an ordinary list to read over, these are powerful practices for us and others: practicing self-love organically leads to loving others. See the best in ourselves and we’ll see the best in others.
So many beautiful tips thank you for sharing! We gotta start these habits
These are awesome tips! I loved all of them but my favorite is ’embrace yourself for who you are’. Love it!
I have recently started practicing self love and prioritizing myself and I must say it really makes a difference. I am loving the images you have chosen to go with these affirmations!
I am also all about self-love. And one of the things that I do is to pick my battles carefully. I love myself too much to pick a fight with just about anything. I learned to let go, so I am happier.
I love this so much, it is something I feel really strongly about. We women tend to put everyone else first and this message needs to be shared because we are much happier people when we look after ourselves. Thanks for sharing!
I’m trying to make more time for self care, and its getting better over time. I love this!
[…] Self care and self love are pillars of strength for us, especially in difficult times. Remember to take care of your own needs first- be it emotional, physical, social, professional, psychological/mental, or spiritual. Mediation helps us look within and can heal us. There are basic needs to be met for us to think rationally and behave balanced. Read these posts about practicing self care and 12 simple ways to practice self love […]
Self-love and self-care are both so vital in daily life. Many times people neglect their health with work burnout.
Beautifully written and so relevant, its so important to love oneself.. and its not being selfish at all.. great tips
[…] 12 ways to practice self love […]
[…] and learning and growing with wisdom and knowledge. You may read this post from last year about 12 ways to practice self love and 7 habits to cultivate to get more […]