Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives. - Louise L. Hay
Saying I love you to yourself for many people feels shameful and uncomfortable, even unthinkable. Do you think you can you look at yourself in a mirror and say “I love you” without flinching? Most people ask, “Why would I love myself?” I ask, “Why wouldn’t you?” From first-hand experience I can say without a doubt that loving yourself changes your life. It is a reflection of your authenticity and self-respect, it radiates from every part of you and returns to you multiplied. It is an amazing way to live.
The first time I said I love to you my reflection, I looked down, but I kept saying it until it became a daily ritual and I could look directly into my eyes. Now I not only say it each day with confidence and faith in my beauty, I know that I deserve my love from my head to the bottom of my feet, no matter what. And because of that change within me, the people that I now have in my life reflect how I feel about myself, they are just as loving and happy with themselves as I am.
For most of my life loving myself was never a consideration. In the era when I was born, no one ever told me it was important to love myself. My parents were loving, but I grew up believing that I was faulty, too chubby, too quiet, unattractive, too shy, etc. Loving yourself was selfish and unheard of. I don’t blame anyone, that was just the way things were. As I came into this part of my life, I finally abandoned all of those old beliefs and began to live my life focused on the self-respect and confidence I deserve, which in turn draws love into every part of my life.
Self-love takes time and effort and the belief that you are worth it. For me, it all started several years ago when I became more aware of the people in my life and the way I felt about myself. It won’t take long for you to figure out if you love yourself or not by the type of people that you have around you, the way that you feel and are treated. It was interesting to me when the transformation began all of the people who were in my life that brought drama, anxiety and negativity fell away naturally or by me seeing that it was time to tell them goodbye.
Self-love starts with acceptance of the entirety of you. Look at your intelligence, facial features, body image, the color of your eyes, your hair, etc. with love and know that you are a special and unique representation of God. Are you ready to concentrate on your happiness, health and well-being by changing your perception of yourself and seeing the beauty of who you really are? Start small and build on it until you are confident enough to look in that mirror and love who you see looking back at you. You might think that this is a form of narcissism, but it isn’t. Self-love is natural, it is how we were born into this world. We have to return to what we were born with, in fact it is imperative to a happy, healthy life of unconditional love.
We are encouraged to seek love from others, but we aren’t taught the importance of loving and valuing ourselves before we seek love from outside of ourselves. How can we possibly love someone else if we don’t give any of that love to ourselves first?
Wisdom of a Woman's Heart 