Don’t wait for Valentine’s Day to feel love from someone else. Each day, you can do things to show yourself love. You can make self-love a habit and incorporate little actions into your daily routine.
And why is self-love so important? I never understood it until I started on my self-love journey. I always thought I needed someone else to validate me, to make me feel special and unique.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my husband and our six children, our family, and friends. Other people’s love is like standing by a lamp and feeling the light. But when I love myself, the light comes from deep within me. It burns far brighter. I become the spark, the flame, the fire.
So here are some suggestions to get started filling your heart with love.
1.Self-love mirror work. Spend time each day in front of the mirror. Look into your eyes repeat, “I love you.” Researchers say you can start feeling love after you say those words.
2.Smile at yourself. Smile, smile, smile. You might think that you smile when you’re happy, but the opposite is true. When you smile, you become happier. According to researchers, the muscles in your face can influence your brain into thinking you’re happy. So, even if you must fake it until you make it, put a grin on your face.
3.Put yourself first on the list. It is said that character is what you do when nobody else is looking. Self-love is what you wear when nobody else is looking. Until I started loving myself, I never knew how important clean, fresh underpants were. This will make me blush, but I always wore ripped, old underpants that I never wanted to throw out. I didn’t care about myself. I would buy new underpants for everyone in my family, except myself. I realized I had put myself last on the list.
You don’t need to wear fancy, lacy lingerie (you can if you want but you don’t have to). The point is this: you are taking care of yourself in a very intimate way. Your heart is fuller when you take care of yourself. That means what you wear and how you take care of your clothes, especially those that are private.
4.Treat yourself with gentleness. For example, after you wash your face, use a soft towel, and pat your skin dry with kindness, gentleness and care. Pretend you are drying the most precious thing—because you are. This is a physical act that can help you feel loved.
5.Practice saying no! Before I learned to love myself, I always said yes to people’s requests, even when their demands were unreasonable. Even when they asked me to do things I didn’t want to do. I was frightened that if I said no, people would stop loving me. But now that I love myself, it doesn’t matter who stops loving me. I pay attention to my own needs and wants. I practice saying no to others and saying yes to myself.
Remember, you can travel all around the world, meeting billions of people, but nobody deserves your love as much as you. So, love, love, love yourself.
Love yourself like your life depends on it. And yes, it does.
