Do You Practice this Vital Self-Love Activity?

When was the last time you gave yourself a compliment?

 

Are you aware of your special gifts; your beauty, your talents and your unique contributions to society?

 

When was the last time you criticized yourself?

 

Do your compliments outweigh your criticisms?

 

For the majority of my life, I fell into the latter category. It’s amazing I ever got out of bed considering the amount I beat myself up every day. My default mode was not feeling good enough. I spent a lot of time criticizing and judging myself and treating myself poorly. I would work from the moment I woke up until I fell, exhausted, into bed at night. I hardly took any time for myself, expected perfection in everything I did and berated myself when I made mistakes. Not surprisingly, I rarely tried new things because I couldn’t handle failing.

 

A miraculous thing happened though when I began treating myself better; my patience and love for myself grew. And it felt really good. My self esteem rose and I felt more comfortable making mistakes. I also learned how to try new things and to fail. The simple act of complimenting myself and cheering myself on for any victory was like dousing an almost-dead plant with miracle-gro. The better I treated myself, the better I felt. And amazing things started happening in my life.

 

The big secret to this self love success is that there is no secret other than loving yourself.

 

That starts with small actions repeated daily. That’s it.

 

Do you practice this vital self love activity? If not, it is never too late to start.

 

I began by setting aside 30 minutes for myself every day. Just for me. The amount is much more today.

 

In August 2013, I also began writing down five compliments for myself every day. That’s over 2300 compliments from me to me. The results from this activity are miraculous! I’ve gone from an insecure person afraid to do much outside my comfort zone to someone who adores public speaking, applies for Ted Talks and isn’t afraid to fail. This is a complete transformation compared to the person I was 10 years ago.

 

But it started with small acts every day. Things like making time to meditate because it calms my mind. And saying no to things I don’t want to do or feel uncomfortable for me.

 

How can you practice more self love in your life today?

 

I challenge you to do the 5-compliments for yourself activity.

 

Pick a time, set a timer for 5 minutes and write five compliments to yourself.

 

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable if you don’t normally do this; stick with it. It gets easier. And it feels awesome.

 

After you do it, scroll down and leave a comment below. I love hearing from you!

 

I’ll start: I love you, Jaime! You have a beautiful smile!