Day 3 – Love yourself

*This one will be the hardest. I have done some mirror work before. While it’s a great practice, it makes me so uncomfortable. I think that might be the point*

Today you are going to spend the day loving yourself!

Self-love goes deeper than bubble baths and pampering sessions.

It is a conscious practice.

It is a practice of choosing yourself, making yourself feel important, putting yourself first when you can and honouring your own needs/desires.

Also, self-love is about choosing things, people or situations which are good for you, feel right and serve you in some way. It’s an ongoing conscious choice.

You need to learn to keep on choosing yourself and your well-being. Moment by moment, day by day.

There will be wobbles on the way. You will fall off the wagon not once. But you can keep coming back to the self-love practice.

To truly love yourself you need to get intimate with yourself. And today’s exercise will help you do that.

EXERCISE
Stand in front of the mirror (naked if you are brave enough!). And start looking into your own eyes. This may feel awkward at the beginning. You will hear lots of thoughts in your head like: this is stupid, this is pointless, I’m wasting my time, this is not working, I’ve done it so many times before… Just let those thoughts pass. And when you are ready start looking at yourself with compassion and kindness. There are 3 things you will need to do.

1. Thank your body for something. Thank your eyes for being able to see. Thank your ears for being able to hear. Thank your stretch marks for carrying your babies if you are a mum. Your body does an amazing job every day to carry you through life.
2. Appreciate yourself for something. Your achievements, your personality traits, for dealing with life’s challenges. Simply appreciate yourself for sticking with the challenge or something else you’ve done today. Recognise your inner strength and amazingness.
3. Say ‘I love you’ to yourself if this feels right for you. Or if it doesn’t instead repeat the below affirmations a few times.

May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself, just as I am.
May I recognise my worth.
May I give myself all the compassion I need.
May I be loving toward myself.
May I be able to see my true self in the mirror.

Do this exercise for 2 minutes each morning or evening for 30 days!

JOURNALING QUESTIONS
What does loving yourself look like in your life?
What prevents you from loving yourself?
How would you like to show more love to yourself?