What is self love?
Self-love has to do with the way in which we relate to ourselves, which will later be transferred to the way in which we relate to others. Working to cultivate and improve this type of love every day should be a routine and practiced by every one of us. Self-love is the engine that makes us feel good, that encourages us to get closer to our goals and that forgives us for our mistakes. Self-love helps us heal our wounds and is the antidote to apathy and self-rejection.
The quality of our self-esteem affects all areas of our life. Having a certain type of love for oneself will influence the people we choose to establish relationships, where we put limits when others harm us with their behaviors or to what extent we feel that we deserve the good things that happen to us. Self-love defines our ability to appreciate and value ourselves.
What is self-care?
Self-care goes beyond pampering yourself. It is not just about taking care of ourselves aesthetically or managing to feel good. It is about taking care of our physical, psychological and spiritual health.
The first of the steps we will need to practice self-care will be discovering what our individual needs are. Ask ourselves sometime throughout the day "how am I?", What do I need? " It's a good start. Only having heard my need I can try to cover it. Perhaps what we discover leads us to think that we need to develop skills to achieve it, such as saying no to some plan that we do not feel like doing, criticizing a person I have valued or abandoning an old habit. Working to develop that skill is also a gesture of self-care.
Another way to practice self-care is by searching an inner calm. It's about finding a way for you to be calm, without allowing anxiety and a racing mind to take control of thoughts that flood us with future worries and dangers that will probably never happen. It can be achieved through a relaxing massage, a meditation practice, physical exercise, music, drawing, deep breathing, relaxation techniques ...
Furthermore, taking care of yourself means having a conciliatory, friendly and respectful internal dialogue towards oneself, towards your thoughts and emotions. It is about respecting and accompanying whatever is happening at that moment, without judgment and without the requirement of having to be doing it differently.
And finally, taking care of yourself is freeing yourself from the guilt that makes us feel that we have no right to treat ourselves with love and prioritizing ourselves before the well-being of other people. Taking care of yourself is not a gesture of selfishness, it is a responsibility with yourself and, consequently, with others.
Self-love is one that you can begin to cultivate by living the experience of love in yourself, in a timeless way and without pretexts. Grow it with these tips:
- Self-awareness - Be aware of yourself. It is being at peace in your physical, mental and emotional body. You are the greatest manifestation of love that exists! It is learning to recognize and accept who you are. For this, you must give yourself the opportunity to be with you, you can meditate to achieve it!
- Self recognition - Recognize and appreciate yourself for all that you are, do and believe, leaving aside the high expectation of "should be". We all do the best we can in each circumstance, what frustrates us is only learning.
- Self-care - You are your greatest love and therefore, a responsibility arises in you to take care of yourself, protect yourself and seek yourself at all times.
- Self-containment - It is a practice in which we promote the experience of being consciously in you, being yourself who sustains, supports, nurtures and strengthens you.
Get inspired to feel that experience of love not only this month of the year, but day by day, to enjoy and celebrate being with you.