Love is a feeling that many individuals reserve for the special people in their lives. But the person looking back at you in the mirror deserves this strong emotion of profound affection more than anyone else. 

SELF…LOVE is a feeling of admiration for oneself that develops through behaviours that promotes our mental, emotional, and spiritual development. Having a high regard for your own happiness and well-being is what it means to love yourself. SELF…LOVE entails attending to your own needs and refraining from putting your health at risk in order to please others. Not settling for less than you deserve is a sign of self-love.

The root and source of all the love that emanates from our hearts to others is SELF…LOVE. That profound admiration and high regard, whether it is for a member of the family, a close friend, or even a cherished pet, emerges from the roots of SELF…LOVE. Even while self-love begins within, it is not always simple to practise. We all experience ups and downs when we may not feel our best, and this can cause self-doubt to start to creep in. Simply said, things happen in life, and occasionally we need a boost to our self-esteem to get us back on track.

SELF…LOVE is important because it motivates much of our positive behaviour while reducing harmful behaviour. It both empowers us to take risks and to say no to things that don’t work for us. It’s essential to cultivating self-compassion. SELF…LOVE encourages us to look after ourselves, manage our stress, and pursue our goals. She claims that when you have self-love, you can own your faults, attempt to correct them, or make reparations, but you can also forgive yourself rather than focusing on your shortcomings. 

Your health may be negatively impacted by a lack of self-love. Depression and generalised lower mental and physical health are linked to low self-esteem. You develop a pattern of thinking negatively of yourself when you are depressed. If you love yourself, you’re challenging that thought pattern. You won’t think about it as much. And even if you don’t have any depression symptoms, loving yourself will make you stronger in the face of any terrible circumstances in life. Love for yourself lessens suffering. In other words, you can use it to soothe yourself during trying times and emerge from them feeling more at peace. 

Self-love can mean something different for each person because we all have many different ways to take care of ourselves. Figuring out what self-love looks like for you as an individual is an important part of your mental health.

How and Why to Practice SELF…LOVE

So now we know that self-love motivates you to make healthy choices in life. When you hold yourself in high esteem, you’re more likely to choose things that nurture your well-being and serve you well. These things may be in the form of eating healthy, exercising or having healthy relationships.

Ways to practice self-love include:

Becoming mindful

People who have more self-love tend to know what they think, feel, and want.

Taking actions based on need rather than want

By staying focused on what you need, you turn away from automatic behaviour patterns that get you into trouble.

Do things you love

Taking the time to do things that we love is important – not only for our short-term happiness – but also for our mental and emotional well-being. Your performance and general productivity will increase if you are happy with your life and work. Not to mention, those who feel fulfilment in their work specifically tend to be happier, more upbeat, make less mistakes, and make better task decisions.

Practicing good self-care

You will love yourself more when you take better care of your basic needs. People high in self-love nourish themselves daily through healthy activities, like sound nutrition, exercise, proper sleep, intimacy and healthy social interactions.

Making room for healthy habits

Start truly caring for yourself by mirroring that in what you eat, how you exercise, and what you spend time doing. Do stuff, not to “get it done” or because you “have to,” but because you care about you.

Learn to say no

A person who practices self-love will be able to set boundaries, to say no when they want to say no, even when it’s uncomfortable. You can improve your performance and career by saying no. Being assertive pays off. It gives you the freedom to pursue projects that are in alignment with your professional goals. And it keeps you on track with your future career plans.

Don’t expect perfection

Having self-love doesn’t mean you never have another negative thought about yourself. When you’re faced with a moment when your instinct is to beat yourself up, accept that inclination, but think about how you’d treat a loved one in the same situation. It often makes it easier to show compassion to yourself. Then work on forgiving yourself. Do something productive that feels good, like volunteering, donating to a charity or taking care of someone. “When you’ve done that, move on. Forgiveness can be a process. It can take time. You just have to keep working on it.

After you’ve done the hard work of learning to love yourself, you’ll rise to all kinds of challenges. Imagine you’ve got a big presentation to give at work. With self-love, you’ll walk into the room with confidence. You’ll acknowledge your emotions and be gentle with yourself if you’re feeling nervous. You may take more calculated risks in what you present, because you’ll be less afraid of rejection. You’ll feel secure setting boundaries, like saying “I can’t work on that right now” when a higher-up asks you to finish a different project around the same time your presentation is due. Then, if the presentation doesn’t go well, you’ll feel disappointed, of course, but people who love themselves don’t let that outcome change their view of themselves as valuable.

No matter if you’re feeling inadequate or have simply fallen into a self-esteem rut, reading SELF…LOVE quotes is a great way to remind us of our worth and reinforce the importance of nurturing our well-being. Encouraging, positive and inspiring words can help foster a stronger relationship with the person who will always have our best interest at heart: ourselves.

Finally, to practice self-love, start by being kind, patient, gentle and compassionate to yourself, the way you would with someone else that you care about.