10 Sacred Self-Love Practices That Will Change You and the World

By loving yourself wholeheartedly, you can change the world. You become a conduit for love when you fully embrace and express your true essence as a soul—which is love. The more you love yourself, the more you transcend negativity, connect compassionately with others, and become an ambassador of love in the world. 

Like dropping a pebble into a pond, loving yourself creates an energetic vibration that radiates outward from your heart center and shifts everyone and everything in its path. When you emanate the highest frequency of love, you not only receive the benefits of this high vibration, but also raise the vibration of the energy around you. People emitting lower frequencies will rise to the occasion when in your presence by matching that higher frequency.  

When you practice self-love and compassion by being nonjudgmental, with yourself—especially when you struggle, make mistakes, or feel unworthy—you are more likely to behave this way toward others. Such positive behavior generates harmony, inner peace, and spiritual attunement with everyone and everything.  

Here are 10 Sacred Self-Love Practices that will change you and the world:  

1. Accept Yourself Unconditionally: Self-love begins by accepting all parts of yourself without reservation, no matter how you feel about them. Yet, you may find yourself dwelling on something that you don’t like, something that causes you to feel shame, insecure, or inadequate. Write about the issue that makes you feel “not good enough” Observe what emotions come up when you focus on this aspect of yourself. Feel your feels as they are and write about them. Open your heart, accept your emotions and release them.  
2. Eliminate negative self-talk: Notice when you berate, shame, or judge yourself. Use supportive self-talk such as “You’ve got this. or You did the best you could.” Stop beating yourself up every time you become aware of an imperfection, make a mistake, or expose a vulnerability. Instead, realize that all your thoughts, feelings, and choices originate in your being of love. Self-love must be the source from which all your thoughts, words, and choices come from and flow into the world.   
3. Forgive yourself when you react: When you react negatively to a situation, bless yourself, and then release blame, resentment, and judgment. Pause frequently as you move through any challenging situation so that you remain consciously aware of yourself and your reactions. In this way, you can refrain from doing harm to others through your reactions. This way you leave the space infused with more positive energy than when you arrived.  
4. Practice gratitude and self-compassion. Close your eyes, place a hand on the center of your chest, and focus your attention on your heart. Your heart emanates a harmonic electromagnetic energy field that impacts all living beings and the Earth. Radiate love in the form of gratitude or compassion to yourself and then direct it out from your heart toward others. It is possible to do this simply one love beam at a time. Just like a salt lamp cancels out negative ions, such love beams can eliminate negative energy and bring about the highest and best for all. 
5. Rescript your negative thoughts: Use your breath to bring you into self-awareness and notice your negative thoughts. Write them down and then replace them with self-love affirmations. Here are a few affirmations I use on a regular basis: I am whole and complete love; I trust myself as a divine source of love; All that I am and express returns to me as love; I express love wholeheartedly and without reservation; and I am the miracle of love. When you shift your negative thoughts to positive affirmations, you harness a transformational power that can change your life and the world. 
6. Take precious self-care: When you take precious self-care, you fill your cup. By doing so, you create more energy and vitality to serve others. Such care doesn’t require a lot of money or time. Take a few minutes at the beginning and end of every day to meditate, journal, or relax; transform your daily shower or bath into a ritual to detox your energy field after a stressful day; or engage in activities such as walking, yoga, massage, acupuncture, tai chi, or energy work.  
7. Engage in acts of self-kindness: Nurture yourself with the kindness you would shower on someone you cherish. Make a commitment to practice at least one act of kindness toward yourself every day. Make a special meal, leave love notes on the bathroom mirror, book a self-care retreat, or spend time doing something you love. You send ripples of positive energy into the world every time you say a kind word or take loving action for yourself. This gift to yourself promotes well-being, self-love, and joy while giving you more energy to serve others. 
8. Set healthy energetic boundaries: By setting energetic boundaries, you protect your precious energy field and simultaneously become a more loving, compassionate person. Putting such “love fences” in place allows you to compassionately engage with others, but still protect yourself from any unwanted energy. It’s possible to be loving with another person while still holding them accountable for their behavior. Not holding them accountable for their energy or choices actually impedes their personal and spiritual growth. 
9. Create sacred space for reflection: Be mindful of any transition whether it’s between one thought to another, one movement to another, or one choice to another. Become more aware of your breath, thoughts, feelings, and choices in any moment. Slow down so you can notice every moment and what kind of energy you are bringing to it. Some of the spiritual practices that can assist you are: mindfulness movement, meditation, yoga, and breathwork.  
10. Give yourself divine grace: Loving yourself connects you to the wisdom, grace, and divinity of your own being. When you’re being hard on yourself or holding yourself to unrealistic expectations, allow grace in. This means being gentle with yourself, giving yourself some wiggle room, and forgiving yourself. Listen to your own needs and desires and act on them. Be graceful in everything: in anger, in happiness, in grief, in joy, in fear, and in love. Carry grace with you always.  

When you embrace self-love, you ascend to your highest level of soul potential. You perform better at work, are more creative, healthier, and impact your world in a positive way. You can be a change agent of love by loving yourself. By loving yourself, you can live in harmony with nature, conserve the earth and its inhabitants, and contribute to raising human consciousness to love.