What is self-love and self-compassion?
Self-love and self-compassion are the same concept. It’s what they sound like… caring for yourself! Mental health experts have identified 3 aspects of self-love. Here they are with simple explanations.
- Self-kindness – Try to be gentle with yourself and acknowledge you are doing your best and learning from real-life experiences
- Common humanity – You are not alone in your experiences. Everyone is imperfect and suffers. It’s a hard part of the human life experience.
- Mindfulness – Be fully present. Intentionally being aware of yourself, your thoughts and feelings and not judging.
Why is self-love important?
Self-love is an aspect of your self-concept. If you don’t care about yourself, your thoughts about yourself will be negative and your behaviors will reflect this. Your decisions and responses will be made from a negative space and you may miss out on good things because you don’t believe you are worth it. You may not reach your potential. You may start to have feelings of depression or develop unhealthy patterns if you continue in a negative space.
Moving to a positive and self-compassionate mind and heart space can help you feel better about yourself. When you are feeling better about yourself, you have more space within yourself to feel and show love for others. You are worth it, so begin showing self-love today!
Is it normal to have a hard time feeling self-love?
Some people notice that when they begin to develop self-love, they feel more pain at the start. This could be because they become more aware of times when they felt unloved. As mindfulness and self-love are applied then self-love helps the heart become more open for healing. Be patient with yourself! Developing self-love can take time. Take it moment to moment and day by day. If you think you don’t deserve self-love or aren’t able to feel self-love, seek the help of a trained professional to help you get started.
Ideas to begin feeling self-love today:
Create a self-love statement and memorize it, develop mindfulness through meditation, exercise, yoga, read, drink water, eat nourishing food, pray, journal, spend time in nature, create or listen to music, get a massage, go to therapy …
Self-Love Resources
Self-compassion.org (Self-compassion information and journal)
Switchresearch.org (Self-love journal)
