Although you may have many wonderful souls in your life who you love with all your heart, the odds are that you’re withholding that love from the person who needs it most. You.
In this article, you’ll discover what self-love actually is, why self-love is important, and how to practice self-love through an easy self-love ritual you can use today.
What is self-love?
Self-love is all about being at peace with yourself and who you really are. Self-love can be summed up through the 3 A’s: acceptance, appreciation, and admiration.
Self-love also means knowing your worth and putting yourself first. It’s about always tending to your needs and showing yourself that you care about your mind, body, and spirit.
We are taught from an early age that love has to be earned and that there has to be a reason to celebrate ourselves. But unlike conditional self-liking, self-love is free of conditions and judgment. If you truly love yourself, you do so because of who you are, not because of what you’ve done, achieved, or proven to the world.
To love yourself is to truly liberate yourself from expectations and the addiction to validation. In this article, you’ll discover how to practice self-love in four easy steps via your own personalized self-love ritual.
Why is self-love important?
Self-love’s importance goes way beyond personal growth fads and Instagram selfies. It’s only when you truly love yourself that you can make healthy choices, have a high quality of life, and forge deep, meaningful relationships.
It’s like RuPaul famously asked. “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”
What’s more, the relationship you have with yourself is the only one that’s guaranteed to last till the day you die. So it makes sense to tend to it.
After all, how do you expect to lead a happy life if you’re unhappy with yourself?
Your levels of self-love won’t just benefit your life, either, but all the lives you touch. Through discovering how to practice self-love and care, you actively choose to put yourself first so you can show up in the world as the most balanced, healthy, loving, and authentic version of yourself. And that’s contagious.
It’s the only way you can properly help and support others, too. When you give to yourself, you have more of yourself to give to others. It’s like Mindvalley author Lisa Nichols always says, “Your job is to fill your own cup, so it overflows. Then you can serve others, joyfully, from your saucer.”
Give The World The Best Example Of How To Love You | Lisa Nichols – Video
How to practice self-love: 7 examples
Here are seven examples of how to practice self-love and self-care:
- Treat yourself like you would treat a good friend
- Forgive yourself
- Accept yourself just as you are
- Speak kindly to yourself
- Eat well and take care of your body
- Allow yourself to feel and express all your emotions fully
- Tend to your own needs before tending to others
…there are countless ways to take care of yourself. Read on to find out how to create your own self-love ritual and self-care routine.
Create your self-love routine: 4 steps
Your self-love ritual and care routine will be totally unique to you depending on your daily schedule. No matter what it looks like, learning how to practice self-love will be one of the best decisions you ever make.
Grab a pen and paper and go through the following four steps to plan how to practice self-love. For each step, pick at least one self-love practice. By the end of the exercise, you should have at least four acts of self-love to practice every single day.
Step 1: Care for your body in the morning
Your self-love routine should begin as soon as you wake up in the morning. It will set you up for an awesome day.
Choose at least one of the following:
- Practice some yoga (you can access free yoga via YouTube if you’d like to be guided)
- Prepare yourself a nourishing breakfast and take your time to mindfully eat it
- Treat yourself to a luxury shower and moisturizing session with products that smell amazing
- Go for a morning walk in nature
- Explore some deep breath work to oxygenate your body well
- Journal about your positive intentions for the upcoming day
Step 2: Meditate on self-acceptance and forgiveness on your lunch break
Whether you have an hour or a couple of minutes to spare on your lunch break, it’s the perfect time to practice a self-love ritual.
One of the biggest obstacles we have between self-love and ourselves is self-acceptance and forgiveness. A great way to slowly chip away at that obstacle is via meditation. Don’t underestimate the power of your mind.
Choose at least one of the following:
- Sit down for a couple of minutes and repeat the mantra silently in your head, “I love, accept, and forgive myself.”
- Do the 6 Phase Meditation which includes a self-gratitude and forgiveness section.
- Take out a pocket mirror and practice looking at yourself with kindness as you breathe slowly and deeply (this one can be challenging, but the results are worth it).
- Follow a specific guided meditation for self-acceptance and forgiveness on the free Mindvalley app.
Step 3: Show yourself love throughout the day
Sometimes it’s the little gestures you practice throughout the day that make the biggest difference to your self-esteem.
Sure, grand acts of self-love, such as taking yourself on a retreat and going on a huge self-care-inspired spending spree, are great, but it’s those small daily self-love rituals that will permanently rewire your psyche for self-love.
Choose at least one of the following:
- Keep hydrated and take plenty of mindful breaks with a cup of your favorite tea
- Smile at yourself every time you pass a mirror
- When people give you compliments, say ‘thank you’ and accept them fully
- Set an alarm on your phone to go off every hour to remind you to think of one thing you like about yourself
- Be selective about who you give your energy to, and always save some for yourself
- Listen to your self-love playlist
- Say ‘no’ when you need to, and set healthy boundaries
- Take a few minutes in the afternoon for a 10-minute power nap or meditation (see the link below for a beautiful 10-minute inner smile meditation)
Step 4: Spend some time reading and studying self-love before you sleep
Finally, just before you go to bed (after a nice hot bath or shower, perhaps?) we recommend cuddling up in bed for gentle reading, watching, or studying time. That way, you can use your newfound knowledge the very next day when you wake up.
Self-love and care is a journey, not a destination, so it always pays to top up your knowledge on the subject.
Choose at least one of the following:
- Read a book focused on self-love.
- Listen to a podcast all about self-esteem, self-love, and self-care. Here’s a link to the Mindvalley podcast to get you started.
- Watch self-love content by self-love guru Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani to give you all the tools you need to find unconditional love when you wake up.
