It’s Valentine's Day Week. This year I wanted to think about Valentine’s Day a little differently, why not think about it as a day of Self-Love. Now, that’s a day that is truly needed because we seem to neglect ourselves more than others. Think about it, when was the last time you thought about self-love? Right! Probably never.
We have this way of giving love to others, talking kindly to others, giving our energy to others and then we look in the mirror and we don’t give the same love back to ourselves. Think about the way you think and talk about yourself “Look at these wrinkles.” “Ug my stomach.” “Why am I so stupid?” “Why am I so lazy?” “What is going on with my hair it looks horrible.” “Well messed that up.” “Mommy fail.” Do any of these sound familiar? They may have even made you laugh because you are so used to saying them. But what if we just changed how we talked to ourselves and talked to ourselves with love and kindness, you know the way you talk to every else? I truly think it would make us happier, give us more confidence, more energy, who doesn’t want that?
I know the way we talk to ourselves is only one area of self-love but it’s an important one so let’s focus on what we can do to change it!
One of the best ways I can think of to change how we talk to ourselves is through affirmations. I am a huge fan of affirmations, but I know at first it can seem silly but hey I thought having a camera on my phone was silly at one time now I couldn’t live without it.
So, what is an affirmation? It is a positive phrase you say to yourself daily or even multiple times a day to affirm something. You can say it out loud to yourself, in your head, or my favorite, say it as you are looking in a mirror. The goal is to say them as they are already so. You can have affirmations for different areas of your life, or you can focus on just one area. For example, if you find yourself always looking in the mirror and judging your body and saying negative things about yourself. Here are some good affirmations to try:
- I love you. You are a very beautiful person.
- I love and accept myself completely as I am.
- I am good to my body and my body is good to me.
- I deserve to be healthy and feel good.
- I love my body and my body loves me. I take care of my body and my body takes care of me.
One tip is to find the affirmation you want to use and put it on a posted note on your mirror, so you see it every morning and night. Again, I know you may feel silly at first but keep doing it.
Another way that you can start to change the way you talk about yourself is when one of those negative comments about yourself comes into your head you simply stop the thought and say, “No I choose another thought” and change that thought to something positive. Here is an example if you find yourself saying “wow I am I that stupid?” in the moment you say in your head “No I choose another thought, I am always learning new things and I am a smart person.”
The third way you can really focus on self-love as it relates to the way you talk to yourself is to journal. Last weeks newsletter was all about Journaling, it is a great tool to focus on you and self-love. Some great journal prompts for self-love are:
- List 5 things you love about your body and why?
- List 5 things you love about your personality and why?
- When do you feel most at peace?
- What brings you joy and how can you do more of it?
- What are you proud of yourself for?
I hope this Valentine’s Day week you choose self-love and try some of the ideas mentioned about. Please remember you are a beautiful person, you deserve happiness, you deserve joy, you are loved.
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