[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]We’ve been told by many leading Psychologists that in order to be loved and to love others we must first love ourselves. Well this is all good and fine, but maybe not as easy as it sounds for many of us. Here is a list of ten practices you can do to put you on the road to a better you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
- This is an exercise that will help you learn to connect better with yourself. I remember when I was a senior in high school a teacher, in a public speaking class I was taking, told me that the best way to connect with anyone was to look them in the eyes when talking to them. When someone does this we know that they are confident, we feel they are telling us the truth and that they are truly interested in knowing us. This is a simple exercise, but you will probably feel a little awkward as you first start doing it. This is because most of us are uncomfortable with ourselves, we’ve truly never connected. Every day I want you to simply go to a mirror in your house look at yourself and repeat the same phrase to yourself, “I love you, I respect you, and you are a good person. No matter in the beginning how silly you fee, within a few days you will find yourself saying the phrase with more meaning and soon will begin to believe the mantra.
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- The next important step is to be comfortable with yourself by enjoying you, become your own best friend. Once I told a friend that the day before I went to lunch and a movie, she asked who II had gone with. She was horrified when I said I had gone by myself. At the time it struck me as an odd reaction, but then I remembered that at one time I would have felt the same way. You see I had already been through the process, but many have not, so here is an exercise to help you. This exercise involves learning to have fun with you, so go to that movie you’ve wanted to see, go shopping by yourself, or go have lunch at your favorite restaurant. Plan an outing once a week until you start enjoying your own company. A helpful hint is to take a book with you to the restaurant, it helps with that initial, “All eyes are on me” feeling.
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- Another helpful tip is to keep a journal. A journal can help you see the person you are and the person you want to become. Each day write in your journal one thing you did during the day you are proud of. It can be as simple as telling someone how nice they look, holding the door open for as elderly person, or just being a good friend to someone who needs you. Every day we do good things automatically without realizing it. We need to recognize that the world is a better place because we are in it. As you get more comfortable journaling you will find that you are filling pages of things you did during the day and things you want to do for others, this gives you insight into who you are and who you want to be.
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- Spirituality is another way to connect with you. Now I’m not talking about religion, which is good, but the spirituality I’m talking about is more an opening of the mind, a stress reliever and an exercise in harmony with you and everything around you. Meditation for many people around the world has helped to open their souls and minds to their full potential. When you start meditating it does not have to be for a long period of time. Start by finding a quite peaceful place where you know you will not be bothered for five to ten minutes. You can sit on a blanket on the floor in a comfortable cross legged position or for that matter any comfortable position. Comfort is important, because you can’t relax the mind if you are in pain, so if you need back support you can use a wall or a floor chair. To clear the mind you can use a Mantra like Om or you can use a mind relaxing technique. Starting at the top of the head and ask your body to relax as you continue to visualize each area of the body, moving downward till you reach your toes. Your goal is to clear the mind of clutter staying in the present moment. Before long you will be meditating for half an hour and not even know where the time went.
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- Stop beating yourself up about things that you can’t go back and redo, learn to let the past be just what it is, the past. We are all humans and humans make mistakes, how else will we learn. The key is just that, to learn from our mistakes and become a better person because of them, that’s all that can be expected. You must learn to forgive yourself, believing you are worthy of forgiveness. Otherwise, you will never be a whole person again and you can’t truly love yourself.
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- Stop the nagging criticism, can you hear it, “I’m fat, I’m not good enough, I’ll never be anything, what I’m I doing with my life” and the list goes on. We’ve all been there, but this behavior can become habit and in turn becomes debilitating. It jeopardizes our mental and physical health and causes us to be stagnant, sleep walking through life. An effective way to start resolving some of these issues is to make a list of the things that come up the most when you self criticize, leaving space under each item to write. Now go back and really look at what you wrote. Start to evaluate these messages you are sending yourself, can you remember an incident when you started feeling this way, was it something said or perhaps something someone did to make you feel like this, or was it just something you really don’t like about yourself? Sometimes this helps to get a grip on where the problems lie, and then the process is to do some work to eliminate these feelings. For an example; if this is coming from someone else, remember most people criticize others because they lack confidence themselves and want to feel superior. If you find some of these things being conjured up by your own feelings, look at the list and ask yourself what can I do to change, an example would be if you were constantly criticizing yourself about where you are in your life, start evaluating that problem and see if you can think of ways to change your life. Maybe going back to school, looking for a new job, make some new friends, join some new clubs and the list goes on. The main thing is to have answers when the nagging starts. “You will never amount to anything” and your answer might be, “Oh yes I will, I just started college and I will soon be on my way to a new career, I love myself and I’m the best I can be.
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- We have been focused on the inside of ourselves, but the outside is just as important. How we present ourselves to the rest of the world says a lot about how much we love ourselves, don’t think for a minute this is vanity. How neat, clean and well manicured you are tells others, “I think I’m worthy, I matter, I have confidence, and I’m not a person to be overlooked.” Don’t allow your outside appearance to be anything but spectacular when you go out to meet the world, be the best you can be. Your look doesn’t have to be anything drastic if a more natural and low key appearance is what you are going for, just know that still means you need a style and class. It can be as simple as; your hair tied back in a sleek pony tail, a little eye shadow, blush and some lipstick, finger nail always neat and manicured perhaps with a clear coat of nail polish, and an outfit that fits your days activities that is clean, unwrinkled and without any stains or holes. Remember that your outer appearance reflects what you think of yourself and how can you love yourself if you don’t feel confident in how you look.
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- Physical fitness is an important part of loving yourself. Yes, again it is about how we present ourselves to the world, but let me ask you this, how can you love yourself and not be taking care of your body? If you are a fortunate soul who weighs 105 pounds dripping wet and you don’t exercise, you may think you’ve hit the jackpot and why should I exercise. Well, I can tell you with no muscle tone, no exercises for heart health and no stretching of the tendons and ligaments, among many other benefits of exercise to the body, your body will eventually break down. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, so get of your tush and exercise. You can start a program of exercising three times a week, which is a respectable beginning. This can be as simple as a walk around the block; the goal is to be consistent and to challenge you.
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- Next, what follows physical fitness is eating healthy. Three things can change your life dramatically when it comes to eating healthy; juicing, eating whole foods and cutting back on eating sugar (and sugar substitutes). Juicing is a wonderful way to jump start healthy eating. This does not mean running to your local juice bar and grabbing a juice drink. These juices are usually loaded with sugar or sugar substitutes and many use fruit puree. What I want you to do is buy a juicer (we use the Breville Juice Fountain Elite), and make your own juices from organic fruits and vegetables, no sugars added, just good-old-whole-foods. Your juicer can be expensive or inexpensive just as long as it get the job done. However, buying an expensive juicer means you are committed and if you buy an inexpensive one you will probably be replacing it in a couple years. Eating whole foods means not buying packaged and processed foods. Buy an inexpensive steamer, they do not have to be expensive, you can find a reliable steamer for less than twenty dollars. Steam your vegetables instead of getting your vegetables in processed items like soups, prepackaged dinners or cans. I promise they will have more nutritional value and your body will “LOVE YOU.” When you get use to tasting real food, flavored with your own herbs and seasonings, the taste will be better than you can imagine. Eliminating processed foods, flavored with sugars and nonfoods (preservatives, ex.) from your diet is a real “I LOVE ME” step. Cutting back on sugar is hard for a lot of people, remember sugar is extremely addicting, so this is not an easy task. You may start this process by eliminating all soft drinks and don’t cheat with a diet soda, this is just as bad. Try an ice tea and if you must have a sweetener use Stevia. Stevia is a natural sweetener made from a leaf. Also, don’t forget about water, this is an easy way to drink those 64 ounces the doctors are always telling us is important to our health.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1930″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1927″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Reflect your inner light outward. Don’t you love it when you’re having a stressful day and someone greets you with a friendly hello and a big smile? I know it has turned my day around many times. Well, that is your exercise for the next few weeks, no matter how bad you feel project just the opposite. Greet the world with a great big smile and watch the results, this simple exercise can change your world. You will be amazed at how good it feels to smile and be smiled at back, it can be euphoric, let the world see your inner beauty on the outside, smile.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]We all have times we need a little pick me up. What is something you do to gain confidence and connect to yourself? Share below.
Until next time, enjoy the journey,
Exploring all possibilities,[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTNDcCUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyc2lnbmF0dXJlJTIyJTNFTWltaSUzQyUyRnAlM0UlMjA=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]