Self-Love 101: How to start your self-love practice

‘Loving yourself isn’t vanity, it’s sanity’ Katrina Mayer.

Self-love has become a bit of a buzzword of late, yet some people still think it’s self-indulgent and unnecessary. Learning to love yourself is the most powerful thing you can do in your life. Rather than being reliant on other people for love, become the primary source of love for yourself. We all know that we should love ourselves more; where we get stuck is how to start our self-love practice.

Did you know that you are special? There is only one of you in this world. There’s no one else that even comes close to being like you. Sure some people might be similar, but they will never be you. Even the fact that you are here, reading this, drawing breath is an absolute miracle.

We tend to be encouraged to find love externally from quite a young age, find a partner and start a family. And while finding someone to love is amazing in itself, but when we focus on

Here’s how to start your self-love practice

1. Meditate

Meditation is always going to be at the top of my self-love list. Meditation is a great way to listen to yourself and discover what you think and feel about yourself. If you are plagued with self-doubt, critical thoughts or an internal voice that tends to be harsh on you, meditation can help uproot the voice and change it to something better.

2. Journal

I used to be resistant to journaling. I thought it would be like, “Dear diary, today I had a piece of chocolate, and it was great. Sally threw me some side-eye, and I cried for hours.” But it isn’t. Journaling is so much more than that. Journaling with deep journal prompts can help you learn so much about yourself, your hopes and dreams, as well as your fears and doubts. Journaling is an opportunity to discover what is truly holding you back from living your best life. And it is an opportunity to choose your hopes and dreams over your fears.

3. Nourish yourself fully

Feed yourself with foods that make you happy. Read that again. Foods that make you happy. Focus on foods that you love to eat and that make you feel good after you’ve eaten them. If a piece of delicious cake makes you feel good, then allow yourself to indulge in it. If that piece of cake makes you feel guilty afterwards, then choose again.

4. Create a routine

Having a routine that supports your self-love practise is invaluable. I like to schedule my self-love practices first thing in the morning. I spend my mornings practising yoga, meditating, journaling and reading. My days feel infinitely better from starting the day, nourishing my body, mind and spirit.

5. Celebrate yourself

Always celebrate when something good happens. I’m not suggesting that you go overboard with a party or buy yourself something expensive. When something is going well, or you’re seeing wins in your life, take a moment and celebrate. You could treat yourself to a nicer lunch, a takeaway, a glass of wine, or organise something special with friends. Just do something that celebrates you.

Now you have the basics of setting up a self-love practice, you can start to build it into your day. Whether you do it in the morning or evening is up to you; just try to be consistent. And celebrate your consistency. And if you really want to step your self-love up a notch, talk to people about what you love about yourself. It’s not bragging, consider it honouring yourself.