If you are reading this, I have no doubts that you are a kind and compassionate person, but just as much as you are kind to others, you have to start being kind to yourself as well.  Practicing kindness towards yourself gives you the power of self-acceptance, self-compassion, self-love, and general personal growth. 

All of these are important throughout your life’s journey, so if you are interested in learning how to love and start being kind to yourself, keep reading this article!

Why is Self-Love Important? 

There are many reasons why self-love is necessary, which relates to your relationship with yourself and others.

Here are just a couple of the reasons why self-love is essential:

• Teaches you to embrace yourself just the way you are
• Gives you the ability to forgive yourself for any mistakes in your past
• Lets you move on from past trauma
• Increases self-worth
• Making it easier to let go of what you might think is ‘imperfections’
• Improves sleeping habits by dealing with anxiety and depression struggles

Tips on Being Kind to Yourself

Without a doubt, being kind to yourself is easier said than done, especially if you have already developed self-sabotaging habits like negative self-affirmations or self-punishments. Nevertheless, it can all be reversed for your own greater good.

When it comes to being kind to yourself, you have to remember that it all starts with you. If you don’t put yourself in a mindset to grow and develop positive feelings for yourself, you won’t be willing to open your mind to new opportunities or ways of showing yourself self-love.

So, let’s have a look at the actionable tips you can take on for being kind to yourself and practicing self-love!

Give Time to Yourself

You are probably dedicating more time to your job, family, and friends than you are giving to yourself, and this is normal, but quite frankly, it is not sustainable, so you should change it! 

Take time to do something you love doing throughout your day, whether it is painting, walking through the park, baking, playing an instrument, or just taking a long warm bath. It’s essential to have some ‘me-time.’ 

Time spent out of productivity and into enjoyment is your opportunity to reflect on everything else and make the necessary adjustments.

Related Read: 10 Productivity Tips

Take Credit

Give yourself recognition for your accomplishments. When you achieve a small or big goal, you have to celebrate yourself, bring the bubbly, and praise yourself!

Instead of waiting for recognition from others, you should pat yourself on the back when you do something that you can be proud of. 

You deserve it!

Fuel Your Inner Advocate

We are all our own worst enemies and are sometimes harder on ourselves than anyone else is – your inner critic can be super judgmental, and it has to be silenced.

Try to go one day without criticizing yourself; instead of fueling your inner critic, rather cultivate the little voice in your head that stands up to criticism and defends you – your inner advocate.

This requires a different level of self-awareness, as the inner critic is usually hardwired and has already established a believable (negative) story about you.

Get over that!

Embrace Your Good Qualities

What are your good qualities? Write them all down and embrace them as your strengths while cultivating them to be even stronger.

Even though you might not have the best temperament in the world, you make up for it by having a keen eye for detail; focus on your good qualities, and they’ll overshadow weaknesses. 

Daily Affirmations

Our bodies are a reflection of what we eat. Our minds are a reflection of the thoughts and information we put in there, too!  Give yourself daily affirmations like, “I’m Enough!”, “I’m Worthy!”, “I Deserve the Best!”, “I Can Do It!”. 

You are making these positive phrases part of your daily life will drastically affect how you see yourself. This works because an affirmation can rewire your subconscious habits on an emotional, physical, and mental level when repeated enough times.

Here are some affirmations to try out

• Self-Confidence
• Self-Love Affirmations For Compassion
• Positive Emotional Affirmations
• Affirmations For Summer
• Spiritual Affirmations

Accept Yourself

Every person has faults and victories, weaknesses and strengths, good characteristics and bad habits – embrace yourself for all you are: the good and the bad!

When we stop criticizing ourselves for our faults, we can be much more accepting and content in our skin – accepting yourself is the greatest form of self-love and should be reinforced every day. 

The Self-Love Movement Continues

Self-love should never be misunderstood for selfishness or self-obsession. On the contrary, much self-love is a very healthy part of your relationship with yourself.  The great thing about continuing this movement and implementing methods to increase your love is that it will spill over into others’ lives. 

Don’t be shy. Give yourself a big hug and some much-needed love and share that with others.

Make self-love contagious. Take the time you need to start being kind to yourself and others.

What are some ways you can start loving yourself? Do you consider yourself kind? Let me know in the comments.