Loving Yourself Unconditionally

The first person any of us learns to love is our self. And that’s how it should be, even if many of us forget how to do that somewhere along the way.

We live in a culture which is often harsh, judgmental, and narrow-minded, causing many of us to stop loving ourselves. Everyone has had a time when they felt “less than”, or imperfect. This becomes a snowball effect where we gradually put ourselves down all the time. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

How can we expect to show love for anyone else if we do not first love ourselves? So many of us think of love as an abstract “thing.” Love is not a thing; it’s an action. We need to make it a part of our conscious thought. Unconditional love of self is the basis of all healthy relationships.

Love brings you face to face with yourself. It`s impossible to love others if you don’t love yourself ~ John Pierrkos

Start by simple affirmation of self. You are you, and that is good enough. Develop a mantra that works for you. If you feel comfortable talking to your reflection in a mirror, do that too. You were created to develop your full potential and do great things.

Gradually squeeze that critical self-talk out of your life -whether it’s your own voice, or that of a family member or your boss – it needs to go. Repeat positive thoughts and positive things will start happening. The more positive you are, the more positive energy you will also create.

It can also be helpful to create physical representations of this positive energy. Keep an affirmation journal and, every day, list ten things you love about yourself or that you are grateful for.

Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built up against it ~ Rumi

As for the negative thoughts, write them down and then burn them. This is very effective, for then we are releasing that negative energy to the universe. It’s not on us anymore!

When we develop a healthy love of self, amazing things can happen in our lives. We can start to engage in better relationships with others, romantic or otherwise. We have more energy. We’re able to get through our day without stress or worry.

Isn’t that what everyone in our tired and over-medicated world wants? What if we really didn’t need therapy or drugs to fix a problem that starts with us? We don’t!