Week 2: SELF-LOVE

Self-Love: regard for one's own well-being and happiness

Quote of the Day: "I need to see my own beauty and to continue to be reminded that I am
enough, that I am worthy of love without effort, that I am beautiful, that the texture of my
hair and that the shape of my curves, the size of my lips, the color of my skin, and the
feelings that I have are all worthy and okay." Tracee Ellis Ross

When you practice self-love, you are continually naming and claiming all of who you are —
even the scariest parts. It’s about developing your capacity to be aware, authentic and
intentional in every aspect of your life. In doing so you’ll build greater self-compassion and
also enhance your ability to offer compassion to others. Self-love can only come from a
place of self-understanding and affirmation.

1. Recognize that you are experiencing emotional distress or mental suffering.

Adopt a mindful attitude in which you deliberately pay attention to your inner experience so that
you can notice when you are beginning to shift into a negative state. The minute you realize that
you are thinking negative thoughts about yourself or feeling anxiety in your body, stop and say to
yourself, "This is a difficult moment," or, "I’m feeling distress in my mind and body.”

2. Accept that the feeling is there.

Make a conscious decision to sit with whatever negative feeling is there and try to accept it—
because it’s there anyway—rather than pushing it away. If it’s a negative thought, look for the
underlying emotion (anxiety, sadness, or anger), or scan your body to see where you feel tension
or discomfort. You may feel it in your chest, belly, shoulders, throat, face, jaw, or other areas.

3. Imagine what you might feel if you saw a loved one experiencing this feeling.

In your mind’s eye, imagine your loved one being scared or sad or feeling bad about themselves.
Then think about what you might feel. Perhaps you would feel the urge to help or comfort them.
Try to direct this compassionate mindset toward yourself. If you notice any resistance or
thoughts of “I don’t deserve compassion,” acknowledge them, and try to direct compassion to
yourself anyway. You may want to ask yourself why you think others deserve compassion but
not you.

4. Challenge your negative story about yourself.

If you can't feel compassion for yourself because you feel undeserving or “bad,” try to think
about this as an old story. Notice the old story of why you are bad. Now find a way to challenge
this interpretation. If you acted in an unhealthy or irresponsible way, ask yourself if there were
circumstances that influenced your behavior. Perhaps you experienced past trauma, or you were
caught in a stressful situation. Now make a commitment to try to learn from the experience,
rather than beat yourself up over it. Other ways to challenge the story are to ask yourself if
you’re seeing things in black or white, if you’re being too judgmental, or if you’re seeing the
situation from only one perspective. Are there other, kinder ways to view the situation? Are you
expecting yourself to be perfect, rather than allowing yourself to be human?

5. Think about how everybody messes up sometimes.

It’s tempting to think that you are uniquely messed up, while everyone else is a paragon of
virtue. In fact, even the most successful people make serious mistakes. Think about all the
mistakes politicians make. But making a mistake doesn’t undo all of your accomplishments
and successes. Neff cites “common humanity” as an aspect of self-compassion:
Humans are learning, developing beings rather than finished products. We're all works in
progress.

6. Decide what it would take to forgive yourself.

If your behavior hurt you or another person, ask yourself what it would take to forgive yourself.
Think about whether you want to apologize and make amends to the person you hurt. If you hurt
yourself through addictive behavior, avoidance, ruining relationships, or otherwise behaving
unwisely, make a coping plan for the next time you are in a similar situation so that you can
begin to act differently.

7. Use self-talk to encourage yourself.

You may say something like, “It doesn’t help to beat yourself up,” or, “Everybody makes
mistakes sometimes.” You may want to acknowledge yourself for trying, even if you weren’t
successful. You may tell yourself to focus on the positive aspects of what you did as well as the
negative ones, or that behavior change is a process, and you need to keep trying.

8. Be a life coach to yourself.

Rather than punishing yourself with negative thoughts, gently guide yourself in a positive
direction. You may ask yourself what led to the destructive behavior, whether it’s really what you
want to be doing, and what the consequences are. Tell yourself that you have other choices, and
it’s never too late to change. Then think about a concrete step you can take right away to move in
a more positive direction or get up and try again. If someone else was mean and you let them get
away with it, think about how you can set a limit or boundary to stop this from happening again.