Do You Love Yourself?

Self Love

Did you know just as you share outward love to other people in your life you also have to love yourself. It is to neglect yourself while spending time caring for others. Today, as you read through this ask yourself if you really love yourself.

To increase your self-love:

A. Recognize that you are experiencing emotional distress or mental suffering.

Adopt a mindful attitude in which you deliberately pay attention to your inner experience so that you can notice when you are beginning to shift into a negative state. The minute you realize that you are thinking negative thoughts about yourself or feeling anxiety in your body, stop and say to yourself, "This is a difficult moment," or, "I’m feeling distress in my mind and body.”

B. Accept that the feeling is there.

Make a conscious decision to deal with whatever negative feeling is there and try to accept it, since it is there anyway, rather than pushing it away. If it’s a negative thought, look for the underlying emotion (anxiety, sadness, or anger), or scan your body to see where you feel tension or discomfort. You may feel it in your chest, belly, shoulders, throat, face, jaw, or other areas.

C. Imagine what you might feel if you saw a loved one experiencing this feeling.

In your mind’s eye, imagine your loved one being scared or sad or feeling bad about themselves. Then think about what you might feel. Perhaps you would feel the urge to help or comfort them. Try to direct this compassionate mindset toward yourself. If you notice any resistance or thoughts of “I don’t deserve compassion,” acknowledge them, and try to direct compassion to yourself anyway. You may want to ask yourself why you think others deserve compassion but not you.

D. Challenge your negative beliefs about yourself.

If you can't feel compassion for yourself because you feel undeserving or “bad,” try to think about this as an old story. Notice the old story of why you are bad. Now find a way to challenge this interpretation. If you acted in an unhealthy or irresponsible way, ask yourself if there were circumstances that influenced your behavior. Perhaps you experienced past trauma, or you were caught in a stressful situation. Now make a commitment to learn from the experience, instead of beating yourself up over it. Other ways to challenge the story are to ask yourself if you’re seeing things in black or white, if you’re being too judgmental, or if you’re seeing the situation from only one perspective. Are there other, kinder ways to view the situation? Are you expecting yourself to be perfect, rather than allowing yourself to be human?

E. Think about how everybody has issues at times.

It’s tempting to think that you are the only one that has issues, while everyone else is virtuous. In fact, even the most successful people make serious mistakes. Think about all the mistakes politicians make. However, making a mistake doesn’t undo all of your accomplishments and successes. Neff cites “common humanity” as an aspect of self-compassion: Humans are learning, developing beings rather than finished products. We're all works in progress.

F. Decide what it would take to forgive yourself.

If your behavior hurt you or another person, ask yourself what it would take to forgive yourself. Think about whether you want to apologize and make amends to the person you hurt. If you hurt yourself through addictive behavior, avoidance, ruining relationships, or otherwise behaving unwisely, make a coping plan for the next time you are in a similar situation so that you can begin to act differently. This plan is all part of you maturing and growing into a better person.

G. Use positive self-talk to encourage yourself.

You may say something like, “It doesn’t help to beat yourself up,” or, “Everybody makes mistakes sometimes.” You may want to acknowledge yourself for trying, even if you weren’t successful. You may tell yourself to focus on the positive aspects of what you did as well as the negative ones, or that behavior change is a process, and you need to keep trying.

H. Be a life coach to yourself.

Rather than punishing yourself with negative thoughts, gently guide yourself in a positive direction. You may ask yourself what led to the destructive behavior, whether it’s really what you want to be doing, and what the consequences are. Tell yourself that you have other choices, and it’s never too late to change. Then think about a concrete step you can take right away to move in a more positive direction or get up and try again. If someone else was mean and you let him or her get away with it, think about how you can set a limit or boundary to stop this from happening again.

Reference: Melanie Greenberg, 8 Powerful Steps to Self-Love, Psychology Today

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