*This is part 2 of 2. Part 1 is Why Self Love (and Self Trust) is So Hard
The real confusion around self love is that people think it’s a noun, but it’s actually a verb.
It’s not something you just wake up and feel one day (or, at least, not in my personal experience). It’s something you actively choose to cultivate. Every day.
Notice how you feel during the moments when you are doing the things I’ve listed below. I’ll bet you feel good. That’s what self love feels like. Worth pursuing, no?
And another thing. Self love and self trust go hand in hand. If you work on one you will automatically cultivate the other. And self trust is the key to any real success.
If you’re doing any of the following things, you ARE practicing self love in that moment. Maybe not during all your moments, but every moment matters.
The more things you actively choose to do that symbolize self love, the better you’ll feel, and—bonus—the more positive results you’ll see in your life. People who do the following things attract more opportunities and good experiences than people who don’t.
Self love is…
- Saying kind things to yourself every morning and every night.
- Exercising even when you don’t feel like it (because it raises both your metabolism and your serotonin!).
- Calling a friend when you need support.
- Making new friends if your old friends can’t or don’t support you.
- Building a “dream team” of people who support and encourage your highest vision for yourself.
- Going for walks to breathe fresh air, enjoying the feeling of moving on a gravity-based planet (and being grateful our planet has an atmosphere that supports life—it’s the only one as far as we know.)
- Getting coaching, therapy or healing if you’re feeling stuck or stagnant.
- Taking a few minutes every morning to meditate and check in with how you’re feeling and why (and allowing yourself to feel that, knowing feelings are like waves; if you don’t resist them they roll on through).
- Celebrating your efforts more than your outcomes.
- Making a list of all the things you’ve done in your life that you’re proud of and reading it regularly.
- Celebrating being the only version of you on the planet. Whoohoo!
- Writing inspiring quotes and sticking them on your mirror.
- Watching inspiring videos.
- Reading inspiring books.
- Going to inspiring events.
- Forgiving yourself for every mistake you’ve ever made while also taking the time to do a retrospective so you learn from those mistakes.
- Trusting that voice within that calls you to try new things and step outside your comfort zone.
- Singing and dancing when you feel like it.
- Not taking this life journey too seriously (No one gets out alive).
- Making an effort to practice gratitude for what you already have and who you already are.
- Getting to know your inner child and cheering him/her on every day.
- Keeping your space clean and uncluttered (so your heart and mind will also be clean and uncluttered).
- Letting go of everything you don’t use, so someone else can use it.
- Only buying things you deeply love that add long-term value to your life.
- Choosing to eat local, organically raised food that optimally supports your body.
- Choosing to support small organizations that are doing good things (because it feels good to do meaningful things).
- Humming for no reason.
- Smiling for no reason.
- Volunteering for something you care about.
- Laughing at your own jokes.
- Making faces at yourself in the mirror.
- Taking time to play and create things just for the hell of it.
- Baking cookies.
- Exploring what makes you feel good and doing more of that.
- Exploring what makes you feel bad and doing less of that.
- Making a life of joy your highest intention for your self.
- Writing down your five key intentions/goals for this year, visualizing them as already achieved and working towards them every day.
- Remembering that the only real purpose of life is to enjoy being you and exploring what that means.
- Remembering that this Life thing is a limited time offer with an expiry date; regret, self judgment and comparing yourself to others are not wise uses of that precious time. One hundred years from now, every single person you are trying to impress will be dead…including you.
What are all the ways you show love to your self? Share them in the comments below so we can all try them out!
Rise up and shine as your True Self,
Shawn xo
P. S. I’d love to read your thoughts or questions about this or any other post in the comments section or on my Facebook page.
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