Love is divided into phases, love to your neighbors, friends. Family and Self. Live to neighbors, family and family is often Practiced and taught. Self- love is hardly mentioned as when practiced it is mistaken for being self centered. The neglect of practicing Self- love led to mental health awareness. So many individuals got to understand that there is a particular way they prefer to be addressed and cared for after getting married. The act Self- love is to help you know yourself very well as much as you know and understand your neighbors and results in loving your neighbors, friends and family well. How then do you get to experience Self-love? :
1: Positive self-talk. Start by conversing with yourself the way you want to be conversed with. Conversation that are positive, begin be changing all negative word said by yourself or someone else to you to positive statement. No matter what you are telling yourself — it is you who is in control of the words. As you begin to take charge of the words you use to yourself, about yourself, you quite literally spark changes within your identity that eventually get projected through your habits.
2: Self-awareness: I used this term in the definition of what Self- love means. You can’t change your internal narrative if you’re not recognizing it. Self-awareness is not about feeling bad about yourself and the things you wish were better, it is about recognizing those very things and making the promise to yourself to turn negatives into positives.
3: You have healthy emotional boundaries :Emotional boundaries are a sign of self love because they communicate the treatment you are willing (and not willing) to accept from others.
People with a strong sense of self-love don’t allow themselves to be bullied, talked down to, or taken advantage of.
4: You develop positive habits and routines: Just like in a relationship with someone else, it is not the grand romantic gestures that end up making it last. Those are the “icing on the cake” so to speak, but it’s the small everyday things that really build a foundation over time.
5: Personal accountability in finances, daily activities and lifestyle :What happens if you skip a day (or two…or three…) of those routines we talked about in point #4? Well, the easy response would be to make an excuse. The problem with these excuses is that they might actually be valid. There might be real, viable reasons why you didn’t do the thing. But, the truth still remains that the thing did not get done.
6: Self forgiveness: Learn to forgive yourself of every mistake you make that cause you hurt. To accept that you are human, and that nobody is perfect 100% of the time. Self-love does not allow for that.Self-love is forgiving and understanding.
7 Become conscious about what you feed your body and mind with because this will definitely affect how you grow in loving yourself.
8: Become comfortable saying “no.” Self- love requires that you know when to say No.
9: You approach your days with intention.ẹ intentional about every day of your life and how you achieve your goals.
10: You are clear on your identity and live in alignment with it. Practice what you have learnt about yourself. In other words: You stay true to who you really are.
