Improving Self Love
Improving Self Love
How do you feel about yourself? Do you ever take the time to be mindful of your self
thoughts? A way that you can do this is to take a mental inventory of your thoughts you
have about yourself throughout the day and jot them down in a notebook or on your
phone. At the end of the day, review the information that you wrote down. Are you kind
and compassionate toward yourself? Or can you be unforgiving for making mistakes and
judge yourself that you are not enough based on comparisons to others?
Below is a list of ways to improve your self love, compassion and kindness toward
yourself that can positively impact your mood based on Louise Hay’s work, “You Can
Heal Your Life.”
● Stop Criticism – Criticism is defined as the expression of disapproval of someone
or something based on perceived faults or mistakes. No one is perfect. Be mindful
of falling into a trap of all or nothing thinking and beliefs that you are not allowed
to make a mistake or that your physical appearance needs to be a certain way.
Whenever a criticism arises try to not spend time and energy focusing on it.
Instead, come back to the present, forgive yourself for the criticism and choose
another thought that is kinder and more compassionate.
● Forgive yourself– If you have past situations that you wish you could do over
again and end up replaying them in your mind and judging yourself, try to practice
self compassion and forgiveness. We all do the best we can to make choices in our
lives based on the information that we have at the time. By holding on to past
regret, it allows our suffering to continue and impacts our mood in the present and
prevents us from moving forward in our lives. Practice radically accepting the
situation and learning from the mistake rather than punishing yourself for it.
● Praise yourself– Celebrate yourself for the positive things that you are doing
throughout your day. We can often be encouraging and the kindest cheerleaders to
our friends and family but hold ourselves to a different standard. Whenever you
are living your values and doing activities and tasks that align with your character
and intuition, praise yourself for it. Positive affirmations can be as simple as “I
am” statements. Here are some below to start with to see how they work for you:
●“I am”: successful, intelligent, positive, kind, loving, compassionate, attractive, wise, strong, joyful, happy, beautiful, calm, brave, motivated
● Practice mirror affirmations– People can find it difficult to look at themselves in
the mirror. This tip is to be practiced when you are in the mirror in the morning
while getting ready for the day or throughout the day to pause and think and/or say
positive messages about yourself. This may be uncomfortable to try but the more
open you are to it you can start to see the positive results of creating a supportive
internal dialogue. You can start by using the I am affirmations from above or
write them on post it notes and put around a mirror in your home.
● Have fun-As children, we often took time daily for recess or fun and creative play.
Through the years as we get older, that creative outlet lessens. Try new activities
to have fun in nature or reconnect to your inner child through art, dance or sports
to add joy into your life.
Try adding in one or all of the above tips to help improve your self love. If you feel like
you are wanting to work on self esteem or self love it can be helpful to reach out to set up
an appointment with a licensed therapist by contacting our front office line at
440-392-2222.
Stephanie Cerula, LPCC
Clinical Counselor, The Behavioral Wellness Group
8224 Mentor Ave #208 Mentor OH 44060
P: 440 392 2222 #404 F: 440 565 2349
scerula@behavioralwellnessgroup.com
www.behavioralwellnessgroup.com