Be Your Own Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Did you buy yourself a card?  Did you treat yourself to flowers or your favorite candy?  Did you get yourself a gift certificate to your favorite spa?  If so, you are practicing loving and taking care of yourself – good for you!  If not, then you might need some practice.

Here are a few simple tips for loving yourself:

1.  Act with love toward yourself, even if you don’t naturally feel it.  Do things that nurture and nourish you and that make you proud of who you are such as being in nature or cooking your favorite meal or being of service to someone less fortunate.  Banish guilt and shame – they just diminish your self-love!

2.  Lose the negative self-talk!  The first step to this is awareness.  Check in with yourself a few times each day to get in touch with what you are thinking.  If you find that it’s negative, imagine putting that thought on a puffy cloud and watching it float away.  The thoughts will probably naturally come back, but then repeat the process again.  Make this process a priority – your negative self-talk is preventing your self-love!

3.  Remind yourself that you are loved.  Practice the affirmation, “I am loved” or “Love flows freely toward me from myself and others.”  You might find this corny or unnatural, however repeated affirmations do actually help your negative self-talk quiet down!

Be your own Valentine today and every day!

“The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, global spiritual leader and Zen master.