Welcome back to the Santa Clara Meditation blog! ๐ฟ
We know very well how to love and take care of our partners, family, and friends, but aren’t we a bit clumsy when it comes to loving ourselves?
Today, I have summarized how to cherish yourselfโnot anyone elseโand how to truly love yourself.
๐ 5 Ways to Love Yourself
- Accept yourself exactly as you are.
- Take action without comparing yourself to others.
- Have a grateful heart, even for the small things.
- Give yourself a reward.
- Take time to think about yourself.
1. Accept yourself exactly as you are ๐๏ธ
The very first way to love yourself is to accept both your strengths and your weaknesses exactly as they are.
When people around you compliment you, do you often deny it right away, saying, “Oh, no~!”? Somehow, compliments feel embarrassing. You might feel a sense of pressure that if you accept them positively, you’ll have to do well next time too, so you push yourself, thinking, “I still have a long way to go…”
To love yourself, you must fully accept and acknowledge the things you are good at. Conversely, it is equally important to humbly accept your shortcomings. In some cases, the feedback from people around you is actually more accurate than your own perspective. If you remember and note down the uncomfortable habits or areas for improvement that others mention, and then make an effort to fix those flaws, you will be able to cherish and love yourself even more.
2. Take action without comparing yourself to others โต
Have you ever looked at Instagram or YouTube and envied people who seem to be living cooler lives than you?
In those moments, do you think, “Am I taking small actions and making an effort to become like that?” Or do you fall into despair, comparing yourself and wondering, “Why can’t I live like that?”
The former becomes a driving force that helps you take action, but the latter is a primary cause of chipping away at your self-esteem. Changing your mindset and putting small actions into practice one by one will change your life. When you take action, you can become a better version of yourself than you were yesterday, and you will come to love yourself with a positive mind.
3. Have a grateful heart, even for the small things ๐
“Sixteen years ago, I started writing a gratitude journal, and it was the most important thing I have ever done.” โ Oprah Winfrey
There are people who say they came to view the world positively by writing a ‘gratitude journal.’
If we think about our day today, there were likely many difficult and stressful moments, but conversely, there were also many things to be truly grateful for. If you recall and write down the things you are grateful for today, the day will be remembered not as, “Today was another really hard and exhausting day,” but as, “Today was a day full of truly wonderful things to be grateful for.”
Because the human brain repeats what it habitually thinks and perceives, if you think negatively, you will endlessly produce negative thoughts. But if you continuously think grateful thoughtsโeven if you have to force it at firstโyou can live positively. When you are grateful and feel happiness even in one small thing, you can be thankful for the conditions you have and love yourself more.
4. Give yourself a reward ๐
Rather than only ever whipping yourself to work harder, when you achieve a goal or successfully complete a task, give yourself a reward, no matter how small!
Try buying an item you’ve been wanting to buy, going on a trip to a place you’ve wanted to visit, or simply giving yourself the free time to do things you’ve been putting off.
When you give yourself praise and rewards, your self-esteem rises, and you can love yourself. The only person who will genuinely take care of you when you are physically and mentally exhausted is you. If you run yourself into the ground, your self-esteem will drop, and you won’t be able to love yourself. Always pay attention to yourself and take care not to get burnt out!
5. Take time to think about yourself โ
When you get swept up in busy work and human relationships, you suddenly realize that “you” are missing from your own life.
There are many days when you pay more attention to others than yourself because you are constantly reading the room. Without even knowing what you are good at or what you like, you get swayed by what others say and fail to live as the master of your own life.
If you want to love yourself and become the master of your life, you must first make “time to think about yourself.” Look back on the person that is you:
- What kind of person am I?
- What am I good at and bad at?
- What do I like and dislike?
- Why do I repeat these thoughts and actions?
You must first reflect on yourself and acknowledge who you are so that you can further develop your strengths and make an effort to change your flaws. Also, when you do that, you can love yourself exactly as you are.
The best activity for thinking deeply about yourself is “meditation.” Meditation is well-known to be a favorite practice of many globally successful people, such as Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey. Meditation gives you the wisdom on how to live, awakens your potential, and helps you overcome difficulties in human relationships with a broad mind.
We have looked at 5 ways to love yourself. You must first know how to truly love yourself to be able to give true love to the people around you.
How about making every single day a day where you love and take care of yourself just a little bit more? โจ
