SELF LOVE IS NOT A DIRTY WORD

Sadly for many of us self- love is a foreign concept and many of us don't know what it means or how to love ourselves.

A client once said to me “I thought that loving myself meant that i'm ‘Up Myself.  Back when she was in high school this is the feedback she, like many of us received when we were feeling confident or proud of ourselves for something, we were made to feel that we were ‘bragging’ or ‘ being too big for our boots’ and labelled  ‘Up Ourselves’

So it’s not surprising that most of us think that loving ourselves is selfish or narcasistic and instead we indulge in self-destructive habits and self-loathing and we don’t even realise that we are doing it.  Continuously tormenting ourselves with thoughts like “I’m not good enough”, “I don’t deserve it” or “I hate myself”, we push ourselves to do more and do it better, we don’t allow our bodies to rest when it’s tired, instead we fuel ourselves with sugar and other toxic stimulants to help us keep on ‘pushing through’. These acts of self-loathing and self-destruction eventually overtime pay a heavy toll on our bodies and our overall health and wellbeing.

The secret to vibrant health and vitality is self-love and acceptance. When the body is in a state of love it releases hormones such as oxytocin and endorphins that activate our bodies natural self-healing mechanisms.  When we come from a place of love we make better choices for our health, from the type of foods we eat to nourish ourselves from the inside, to the thoughts we have and our relationships with others.

So what does it mean to love ourselves?  

Self-Love means an unconditional feeling of love and acceptance for yourself. It means that no matter what you do, you always love yourself with the sane strength, even when things aren't going so well.  It means being true to yourself, embracing your perfect imperfections, owning your worth and knowing that you are enough just as you are.

Being loving to yourself means understanding what makes your soul happy and doing it regardless of who judges you for it. Knowing that you will never have the love, and approval of everybody you meet, but that doesn’t take away from your worth.  It also means turning on your power, having the courage to stand up for yourself and always have your own back, and the strength to walk away from those who take away from your life rather than enhance it.

It is our responsibility to be in love with ourselves and to be the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be

Love heals so be loving, and love yourself healthy