My Favourite Ways to Invite more Self Love

Feb 11, 2018 | Uncategorized

Our theme for the month of February at Angea is LOVE. We can think romantic love with Valentines Day falling in this month, but we can also use it as an invitation for our focus to turn inwards on our own self-love journey.

We hear about self- love everywhere these days but what does it actually mean? For every person it can mean something different. I for one am so glad there is beginning to be a shift in the collective consciousness to move towards more self-love and away from fear based thinking. Because well, fear based thinking doesn’t get us very far and will always hold us back from reaching our fullest potential and our most complete expression of ourselves, which at the core is always love.

I view self-love as a continuous practise, not some destination we reach where all the work stops. For me it is a daily commitment I have made to myself to try to operate from a place of love rather then fear, because ultimately these are really the only two choices we have. I am far from perfect at it (which is why I work on it everyday!) and a big part of self-love is being gentle with yourself and knowing that you won’t get it perfect 100% if the time – and that no one does.

I am going to share with you some of my favourite ways to practise self-love to hopefully inspire you to incorporate some of this into your daily life and see where it takes you!

For me self-love is….

 

  • Making the space for the first hour of each day to be sacred. I have a cuddle with my boyfriend, write in my gratitude journal, pull angel cards, meditate, review my long and short-term goals and make some delicious food for breakfast. I do not look at my phone for at least the first hour of being awake and I don’t take it off airplane mode until my morning rituals are complete (put your phone on airplane mode at night!). These mornings look completely different from how they used to. I used to wake up, grab my phone, scroll through Instagram and Facebook, think about what I want to post for the day and then I would go about my morning feeling distracted and completely disconnected from myself and the people around me. The way my mornings are now is a complete change and I feel so much better for it.
  • Doing the things that fill up your energy rather then drain it. Check in with how your actions actually make you feel. What makes you feel inspired, excited and happy? What makes you feel tired, resistant and drained? Pay attention to how your choices make you feel.
  • Setting clear boundaries so you never feel taken advantage of, or taken for granted. Learn to say ‘no’ to the things you really don’t want to say yes to. It is okay to say no. Repeat that to yourself every day!
  • Taking care of your body and you’re health, treating it like the magnificent creation that it is! Self-love not only extends to your mindset and internal dialogue but also how you treat your physical body. Making healthy choices with what you eat and drink is a great expression of self-love. How much better does it feel to dive into a healthy delicious meal because you want to have a healthy vibrant body, and not because you want to loose weight. See the difference there? Choose healthy options not because you feel guilty for something you ate previously, but because you love your body and want it to be as healthy as possible.
  • Having regular down time where you have no distractions from the outside world and can just be. So much of our attention is taken externally these days with the 24-hour news circuit, social media and the Internet everywhere. It can be really difficult to fully switch off from all the noise and pay attention to what is happening around you, within yourself, within your family and loved ones, and the community you live in. This doesn’t mean we all have to go and live on a mountain top with no WIFI to be able to practise self-love. But it does mean choosing to make time each day where you can switch off from the noise, be uncontactable, and just be in the present moment – where all life takes place!
  • Not being hard on your self. Be gentle! You are leaning every day. You are ultimately always trying to do your best with the information and understanding you have at the present time. You are developing and growing all the time, so be patient with yourself and be gentle.
  • Learning to receive love. How many of us love to ‘do it all’ by ourselves? Or think that we are the only ones that can do something a certain way for it to be done right. This is a fast track to exhaustion. Whether it feels like it or not, there are people all around you that are willing to help you and give you love! Will you choose to resist it or invite it with open arms?

I hope this inspires you to have a look at your life and see where you can invite more self-love and kindness to yourself.

We would love to hear how you like to incorporate self-love into your daily life. Please share your thoughts and comments below!