Self-love is understood as a regard for one’s own well-being and happiness. It includes caring, respecting, nurturing oneself, understanding one’s needs and being able to meet these needs. It involves learning to carve out time to listen to yourself and give your needs validation and importance despite a busy life and numerous responsibilities. It looks like showing yourself compassion the way you would do a friend, saying no when you are tired or having the courage to look at ourselves honestly and gently. Let’s look at understanding the magic of self-love.
What’s The Big Deal About Self-love?
As individuals we interact with the world with a constant give and take in our transactions with people around us. We get so busy that we forget to have a transaction with ourselves. People often get so caught up in their lives and responsibilities – working, mothering and looking after their families – they end up neglecting themselves for years and eventually wake up one day and realize they don’t know who they are. They feel overwhelmingly tired, confused and lost. What an awful feeling!!! This happens as a result of constant self-neglect over the years. That is the exact opposite of self-love.
The truth is, the better we love ourselves the better we can love the people in our lives. It is better to love from a place of fullness rather than a space of needing to be filled. Inside each one of us there is a love tank. Some tanks are empty, some are half filled and some are brimming over. We interact with the world according to the fullness of our tanks many of us expecting others to fill it for us by loving us, meeting our need for acceptance, respect and significance. What we forget or don’t realize is that it is our responsibility to fill our own tank and that in doing so we will meet our own greatest need! This is the magic of self-love!
So, for now you have permission to rest. It’s time to replenish. What is it that you need? How can you demonstrate self-love?
Copyright © Yellowbrickcounseling.com | Author: Anugrah Bhagwat
