Love Yourself. Accept Yourself.

Self-love is the focus this week, with Valentine's Day here. Speaking of love, I have had a love/hate relationship with this holiday throughout my lifetime, as I am sure many of you have. Over the years our relationships change. I like to shift my focus to self-love because when that is ever-present, this holiday can feel consistent and reliable. Plus, it’s foundational to social-emotional health and positive well-being.

Self-Love

Self-love is part of what we can nurture with SEL. We can foster self-awareness, self-compassion, emotional management, a sense of purpose, and the list goes on. All of these qualities contribute to how much we love and accept ourselves, even when we feel like a mess of a human being. And let’s be honest, WE ALL FEEL LIKE A MESS from time to time.

So how do we nurture self-love and acceptance? One way is daily affirmations. We can affirm our strengths, our goodness, our gifts, and how we want to show up in the world with simple phrases every single day.

Here are a few suggestions:

I love myself exactly as I am.
I appreciate ______ about who I am.
I see my inner beauty and am proud of who I am.

One more practice I will share with you today is self-acceptance, especially when things feel hard. When you are struggling, bring your attention to your breath and heartbeat for a moment. Then say this phrase to yourself;

“Just like me, other people also feel this way/make mistakes/feel regret sometimes. This is part of me and a part of being human. I am not alone in how I feel right now. I love and accept who I am.”