Self-Love

I’m delighted to share with you a special Valentine’s Day edition of Beaming Bohemian. While you may be enjoying a romantic getaway or a single’s party with your best friends, I hope you’ll stop to take a moment to realize how much you are loved. Your partner, friends and family, as well as all those cheerleaders and supports in your life love and appreciate you so much. I hope that no matter your plans for this romantic holiday, you recognize how much love you have in your life!

With all this love floating around us, I must ask the question, how much do you love YOU? I hope you enjoy a healthy level of self-respect. Self-love is the foundation of how we treat others, how we behave and how we communicate. (I promise I’m not too far off the topic of communication today. See #4.)

For those of you who need a boost of self-esteem, I share with you on this Valentine’s Day…

Five Tips to Help You Fall in Love with YOU

 

1. Begin your day with love, positivity and purpose

For those who follow my blog or tweet with me, you have seen my daily statement. Before I get out of bed in the morning, I ponder what the day holds for me and say out loud:

“Today will be a great* day. I will listen, speak and act from the goodness of my heart. I will accept others as they are and treat everyone with kindness and compassion.”

*Sometimes I change this to fun, productive, traffic-friendly, amazing, successful, happy or whatever word best fits the day I have in store for me.

When I say this, I make a commitment to myself about how I will conduct myself that day, as well as remind myself that I am a good person with honest intentions. It is a strong-willed statement filled with love and respect.

2. Accept yourself to own your potential

You are awesome! You are amazing! You are unique. Out of the more than 7 Billion people on this planet, there is NO ONE like YOU!  You have unique qualities and characteristics that no one else has. You have something to offer the world which the world craves. Take some time to write yourself a love letter and tell yourself what you love about you. Once you accept yourself for the way you are, the way you were uniquely created, you will have the ability to own your potential and make that significant contribution the world needs and desires.

3. Play your own game of life – no comparisons

How often do you find yourself comparing your life to others you feel have “more” than you? STOP! Your life is yours to live. And remember, you have unique qualities that those other people wish they had. I found this quote which sums up the negative impact comparisons have on our self-respect:

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” – Steve Furtick 

How true is that? We look as the messy parts of our life and compare that to someone else’s best moments. How is that a fair comparison? It’s not. So stop. Everyone has their own pain and struggles. No one is as polished and perfect as their highlight reel.

Your life is a solo performance. You are not in a band. Think of your life more like a game of golf versus a team sport like baseball. Your life is yours. Own it.

4. Do what honors and respects you – be true to yourself

When you maintain healthy levels of self-love and self-respect, everything you do should be a direct reflection of your true self. Your hobbies and activities, your work, the people you hang out with and what you communicate.

And on that note, be mindful of how you communicate. We see so much hateful, hurtful and mean speech, words filled with negativity. This is particularly true online. You have to ask, “Is this comment/post/tweet the real me? Am I being true to myself?” Make a point to communicate with honor and respect. The majority of people (and the good people you want to associate with) will appreciate you.

Whenever you get that “this is not me” twinge, stop what you are doing. Stop talking, stop doing, leave the party…whatever it takes. Say to yourself, “I love me more than this.”

5. It’s an adventure everyday.

This video and post will not instantaneously make you fall in love with yourself. And I admit that I have to work on this everyday. We all do. There is no quick fix for a healthy level of self-respect. Another quote for you:

“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” Margaret Runbeck

And that is the same for self-love. So with these tips in hand, let’s travel together, every day, in self-love and respect, in kindness and compassion, in positivity and purpose.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I wish you a day filled with lots of LOVE!