A Guide to Self-Love
Self-love seems to be the hot, new buzzword making its way around the health and wellness spheres. It’s something I’ve really struggled to wrap my head around – and yeah I get it… I understand that it’s my responsibility to take care of my own needs and to nurture my own sense of peace, health and wellness so I have some happiness to share with others.
But self-love as a verb or as a call-to-action?
The term just creeps me out and makes me think of a person who masturbates too much or a slightly sleazy yoga teacher who pelvic-thrusts me during assists.
So I asked my FB friends the question “what does self-love mean to you?”
Answers ranged from self-care, total narscism, acceptance and forgiveness.
To me self-love is a beautiful thing but it’s also a reflection of deep conviction and true confidence. The process of cultivating self-love starts with self-inquiry and developing a greater sense of awareness.
“What makes me happy?”
“Is there anything I regret, what did I learn from this?”
“What am I truly grateful for?”
“Where can I let go and stop being so hard on myself?”
What grows from here are deeper feelings of self-worth and true confidence.
Confidence is a really attractive character trait. It sets us apart from the insecure and carries us through tougher times. Many people work tirelessly hard to create and project an image of self-confidence. They develop their speech patterns, appearance, clothing and mannerisms to suggest that they know what they’re doing.
Sadly many people are better at projecting confidence that embodying confidence
False confidence: Many people suppress their private doubts and fears out of embarrassment. It takes humility to admit that your scared and many people cant admit their private doubts even to themselves.
True confidence: is the ultimate state of self-love. You believe in what you have to offer and you’re willing to share it, in order to make a difference. This is when you become precious to your world.
To really grow your sense of self-love ponder on what you have to offer the world that’s valuable and unique to you as individual?
It has nothing to do with what you can get but how much you have to give from a truly loving space. It has everything to do with who you are, not what you do.
Always remember to put yourself and your own needs first; not out of selfishness but self-centeredness – you need to be centered within yourself and meet your own needs first so you can share it with others.