How do I love myself? This is such a common question I hear daily in and outside of the therapy room. We have really lost perspective with all the theories and blah out there. Before one can ‘love’ themselves, it is essential to begin with trusting and respecting oneself. Most people DO NOT respect or trust themselves for so many reasons.
There are also so many versions floating around and self-love has become borderline arrogance, unhealthy selfish (as there is healthy selfish) and pretty superficial.
People say: I don’t like many parts of me and I want to disconnect from parts of my past? So how do I love myself?
Well, its not possible to love yourself for only the parts you like. The whole point of life is to accept all the parts you like, dislike and cant stand. We cannot cut away parts of our past either. We are the total sum of our experiences. The important part is to ‘Heal’ the parts that are disrupted and toxic, put boundaries, start the walk towards oneself.
Simply, loving yourself comes down to ‘ACCEPTANCE, TRUST and SELF -RESPECT’
This means accepting ALL parts of yourself! This is when the journey begins and carries on for the rest of one’s life as its ever-changing.
Having acceptance of oneself starts to clear doubts, guilt, shame, anger etc
Ensuring self-respect means that you will treat yourself with kindness and patience and also not allow anyone to mistreat you. Not even your own family.
To heal, one must invest in one’s own life process by deciding that there is more to life than this. The process is transformational and liberating! No Better time than NOW to do the inner work! Disrupt your life and find your peace and joy!
Please watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRNHXR0bdaM