The Importance of Self Love

What is Self Love?

Most of us know what self-love is but do not understand it. We eat because we know we need nourishment, and self-love should be looked at in the same way. Self-love is an umbrella term for different acts of love we perform toward ourselves physically and internally. Self-love comprises four aspects: self-awareness, self-worth, self-esteem and self-care.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the key to emotional intelligence. Self-awareness is being aware of your thought processes: your thoughts, how they affect your emotions, and how emotions cause you to act. Are you aware of the thoughts that make you feel angry and make you act impulsively? Where are they coming from, and why are they there? Why do they cause you to act the way that you do? The same applies to what makes you happy. Why does it make you happy? It is stepping aside to examine yourself. This also includes moving away or avoiding situations that you know will trigger certain undesirable feelings and reactions within you. If you cannot move away or avoid the situation, self-awareness enables you to redirect the energy you are putting in those emotions. One way to improve your self-awareness is to keep a journal of your thoughts, emotions, and actions - learn from them, and put those learnings into action.

Self-Worth

You are born with an endless sea of potential; You have it now and you will have it till the day you die. However, because9 of the continuous negative programing that we face in society, we focus on the bad and unpleasant things and project this negativity onto ourselves so often without even realizing it. Self-worth is not determined by anything; you don’t have to do anything to be worth it. You just are. There is never a day that you are not worthy. Know that and understand that. Your strengths, talents, and kind acts toward other people are just an expression of your self-worth.

Self-Esteem

Self-worth is the realization that we are valuable regardless of what we have achieved or the qualities we may have. When you develop a sense of self-worth, self-esteem will come more naturally. Self-esteem has everything to do with being content and comfortable with who you are, where you are, and what you have. If you want self-esteem, improve your self-worth. Remind yourself every day that you do not need to justify your existence. Your need to accomplish certain things is often because of your need to justify your existence.

Self-Care

Self-care is all the acts we do to keep ourselves healthy, like taking a bath, eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, and doing things that we love. Self-care can also take form of watching what you consume, like the music you listen to, the things you watch, and the people you spend time with. Compared to the other aspects of self-love, self-care is easier to do. It is best to start here on your journey toward discovering self-love.