Yes. It can and it will! When you practice self love, you will naturally make healthier choices, out of LOVE for yourself, not FEAR of failure. Without abundant self-love you will not eat the healthful foods that nourish your body, because it is not important for you to take care of your body. Without abundant self-love, you will not notice your need for adequate hydration to function as your best self. Without abundant self-love, how can you motivate yourself to get out and exercise? Without abundant self-love, how can you commit to seeking out healers that can help you on your way? Without abundant self-love, how can you relax and de-stress enough for your body to heal itself? As you begin this journey of self-love, you’ll notice that all the rest will just fall into place.
When I ask my clients, family, and friends about this, it often triggres some pretty heavy emotional reactions. One question of “do you love yourself?” can often open a whole new door for personal healing, but there will be some pain and discomfort (and probably first. It’s all a part of the process. Now, even if you totally believe every word that I’m saying, you may still be saying, “well, how can I love myself?” or “where do I even start?” First, let’s start by defining self love:
“Self-love means you fully love and accept yourself—regardless of how you look, feel or act—and you make yourself (and your needs) a priority every day.”~ Dr. Deborah Caldwell (progressive naturopathic doctor based out of Portland, Oregon)
Loving yourself is no easy task, but remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your self-love be. We have spent all of these years being taught that love is found outside of ourselves, and that we must EARN love, so it may take a while to UNLEARN these lies. Here are a few ways you can begin to show yourself more love. You can do this in the form of personal meditation, like I did, or you may choose to write yourself a letter, by confronting yourself out loud mirror, or however makes sense to you. I chose to do a little bit of all of these things, over and over again, until self-love became who I was.
1. Acknowledge your lack of self-love in the past and how much it has affected your every move. Take a moment to reflect on all that has happened in your life and digest the fact that many of your problems may have been rooted in a lack of self-love.
2. Forgive yourself for all of your perceived mistakes, and remind yourself that they weren’t really mistakes at all, just lessons to learn from, that have gotten you to where you are now.
3. Accept the person who you are, not who you want to be, or who you think you should be. Accept that you are just where you are supposed to be, right now, and that there is nothing that you need other than self-love.
4. Commit to this radical shift, through self-love. You have to do this in order to truly transform. You have to tell yourself that you’re going to do it, no matter how hard the process gets, because you are WORTHY of the change.
5. Remember these revelations every day. You won’t change everything right away, and it’s important to be self-aware and to remind yourself of the changes that you are choosing. You will begin to catch yourself in the middle of destructive thoughts and turn them around.
6. Continue your growth always. Don’t ever stop loving yourself. Don’t ever stop ebing amazed at how awesome you are. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re wrong for loving yourself first, before all others. There will be opposition, I promise. Just don’t let that get you off track.
Remember, that you are worthy of love. Remember that you will never be healthy or happy if you do not first love and accept yourself for who you are right now. Believe that you are capable of great things, because you are. I challenge you to look inside for your answers, instead of looking to to others for approval. You are love. You are light. Everything else is really just a lie, distracting you from the truth… Release your chains, and BE FREE!
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