The most important intention to set for 2019…… LOVE YOURSELF
Inspired by many things including the Celebrate in Ceremony workshop at KALI collective yoga studio and the Happy place podcast.
The most significant thing I learnt in 2018 was how debilitating and sucky life is when you don’t love and believe in yourself.
I used to think loving yourself was unrealistic, almost selfish ideal. Especially in Scottish society, where accepting a compliment usually turns into us denying our beauty or giving credit to sales or charity shops for how we look.
As I delve deeper into Buddhist traditions and the philosophies that surround yoga, I am confronted more and more with the importance of having compassion and love for our-self.
If we truly love and accept our-self we can project that love out into the world..
Having a wee bit of self-doubt is totally normal, it can encourage us to grow and seek out opportunities. However, not loving yourself is a whole other story…
It can manifest in many ways, mine including self-limiting beliefs, constant negative self-talk, whole host of self-sabotaging behaviors.
Practicing self-love….
Start where you are. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to change everything at once. One change is incredibly impactful; just look at the impact the change of one American president has on the full world!!
1. Self-acceptance
We are complex human beings that think and do crazy things sometimes. If you have a moment where you overreact, over-eat, or waste an hour scrolling through Instagram - accept it without guilt or judgement and move on. Recognise the negative behavior and improve next time. Maya Angelou- ‘once we know better, we can do better’..
This is the hardest tip but the one that can have the most impact on self-love in the present moment.
2. Develop a daily practice
Find something that works for you. Don’t be scared to try new things, change it up and find something that feels right for you in this stage of your life..
Having a daily practice, something that allows you to feel like you achieved a mini win for the day. It can really help us tap into self-love.
Daily practices that have really worked for me:
-morning runs/walks before sunrise, one of my favourite things to do, and trust me waking up early gets easier the more you do it, if you need more motivation look up Jacko Willink on Instagram
-big green hulk smoothies everyday
-journaling; including a wee gratitude list; it feels so empowering to offload all of your emotions and thoughts on to page..
In a podcast I just listened to Joey Diaz (a comedian and all round lovely guy) said that journaling has had more impact in his life than years of counselling. Through journaling, you become your own counsellor. It allows you to better understand yourself and how you truly feel- if you write honestly, from the heart (which is a tough thing to do, I spent the first few months writing about how I would like to feel rather than how I actually feel inside)
-small yoga practice every day; I can’t express enough how much yoga can change your life. Even if you feel like it is the last thing you would ever do, I guarantee if you practiced for 3 months, you would be hooked. You develop an deeper connection with your body and your mind.
-big deep breaths (take 3 big deep breaths right this very second- note how you feel); YouTube Wim Hoff, listen to him on podcasts for motivation and theories behind breathing)
3. Eat at least one nourishing meal a day
Food literally gives us life. What we put in our bodies builds muscle tissue and brain cells that allow us to walk, talk, breath and function as a human being.
When we start to observe what we eat, we can start to consider what foods makes us feel good and gives us energy rather than leaving us wanting to eat more….
Start with one or two meals a day, or incorporate a big bowl of veggies with your dinner.. note how you feel after eating that meal. Do you feel more energized and mentally happier for taking the steps to look after yourself and your body?
4. Do one small act of kindness a day for someone else without telling anyone..
Showing kindness and compassion adds to self-love, especially if we don’t share it with others, we are the only ones that need to know if we…
help someone with their bags, tell someone what you like about them; boost them up and show someone love, tell someone how well they are doing; appreciating their hard work, hearing encouraging words can be the one thing that keeps them going that day. Send someone you love a postcard or call them and tell them how much they mean to you.
https://dweebyrunner18.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/never-underestimate-kindness-with-one-kind-act-we-can-change-a-life-one-person-at-a-time-we-can-change-the-world/
Do this once a day, note how you feel inside..
5. One of the most important tips; be honest with yourself.
Observe you behaviors... how do you communicate with people in your life? is the way you are currently living serving you? do you enjoy the people you spend the most time with?
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude towards it. Maya Angelou
It may not always be in our power to change something in our lives. For whatever reason we may not be able to change out of the crappy job right now, however, we can change the way we think about it.. ‘sometimes in life we have to do things we don’t want to get to where we want to be’.
My plan is to write out how many of these steps I meet each day on my calendar.
SELF-LOVE is not selfish, in fact I think it might be the best thing we can do for ourselves and those around us.
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