Holistic Self Love, Why It Is Important

I just got back from spending time with a troubled girlfriend. She was telling me how in recent months, she had actually started to love herself. It sounded amazing in every way. She strongly believes in her own worth. She is appreciative of her body, thoughts, and recent feelings.

We had a conversation, and I was heartbroken to see that she didn't really get the concept of self-love. She just seemed to have a superficial affection for herself until I looked closer. She had complete confidence in her mind and what it was capable of. She is quite proud of and self-assured in her physical appearance. But she was still putting up with the bad behavior of others. She persisted in allowing events to take place that weren't in her best interests.

I realized during our conversation that we need to talk more deeply about self-love. I always prefer to take a holistic approach to everything in my coaching work and yoga instruction. A holistic strategy emphasizes the interdependence of the mind, body, and spirit.

I really believe that self-love necessitates a comprehensive strategy as well. If you only love your head and don't regard your body, self-love won't work as well for you. Some people despise their bodies and minds while having a strong spiritual love for themselves. We need to take a step back, rethink how we talk about loving ourselves, and think about the big picture.

Now let's explore what it means to truly love your mind, body, and soul. I'll also suggest some exercises we may perform to improve our ability to love and feel confident in all three of these areas.

Loving the Body

Body love is undoubtedly the most simple form of self-love. We fully embrace and value both how we look and what our bodies are capable of when we love our bodies. Things that are related to our physical selves are valued more by us.

There are many different ways that this could show up for us. When we value our bodies, we feel good about how we appear in the mirror. We are pleased with how we seem and behave in public. Perhaps most significantly, we are tenderly taking care of ourselves. We take care to give our body the nutrients it needs to function.

It's wonderful that we've ignited a societal movement that promotes genuine body love and appreciation. I sincerely hope that everyone would respect and cherish their bodies, regardless of where they fall on the scale. But I also want to discuss how crucial it is to take good care of our bodies.

You are not truly loving someone if you treat them cruelly while claiming to love them. That is a shaky definition of love. If you truly care about someone, you'll want to do everything in your power to meet their needs and give your all. When we eat, we should provide the body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and perform properly. For this, it can be vital to ensure that the nutrients we're supplying our body are efficient. It might be like making sure we get to the gym. We might detect some movement to confirm that the body is moving.

Perhaps you also need to take a break and go slowly. We are exhausting the body when we are constantly on the run and moving quickly. We must appreciate taking time off and allowing our bodies to recuperate if we are to love our bodies.

Loving the Mind

This is the method for genuinely appreciating the mind and all that it is capable of. When we are practicing loving the mind, we pay more attention to our mental prowess than to our shortcomings. We are proud of our individual accomplishments and intelligence. We also love challenging our minds and refrain from engaging in too many mindless things, like watching television.

There are many ways that our unhappiness and lack of love for our minds can manifest, including self-doubt about our skills, knowledge, and creativity. It can also manifest itself in instances where we don't fully value the characteristics that distinguish our ideas from others. In this situation, we are underestimating our abilities.

I've always had a better relationship with my body and soul, so this is harder for me. I have trouble with the mind for a long time. In the past, I've quickly said, "I'm not that smart," and I've had a tendency to discount my career accomplishment. I did not love my thoughts. Sadly, I didn't get along well with this aspect of my self-love routine.

I frequently have severe anxiety in my daily life. Depression can quickly regain my daily routine. My brain works this way naturally, yet for so long, I opposed it. I thought I couldn't enjoy it because my mind was constantly "trying to get me."

I had to change the way I felt about my mind and learn to use it rather than fight it. Instead of being frustrated by my limits, I began to appreciate my inventiveness and organizational abilities. Even anything as simple as praising an email for being well written should be recognized as a minor mental victory.

Loving Your Soul or Spirit

The most profound component of self-love is this. We discover affection for our personalities and emotions in the soul or spirit. When we are happy in our own company, we might become our own best friends. This aids in lowering dependence on others and loneliness.

A spiritual or religious practice may also be a part of loving your spirit. We are taking care of our own self when we can connect with our own conception of a higher power (or even purpose). You can accomplish this by whatever discipline feels most natural to you—prayer, study, meditation, etc. For some, all they need to do is sit outside and take in the scenery.

When we don't engage in acts of self-love of the soul, what does it look like? Sometimes we experience a sense of being lost or being cut off from who we really are. Even though we may feel empty inside, we frequently get caught up in the commotion of the material world.

Practicing Body Love

I advise performing this mirror practice if you're finding it difficult to practice body love. Find the physical characteristics of your body that you like when you are standing in front of a mirror. even if it appears to be something straightforward. Grab some paper and compose a list, even if it's short, even if you can think of things like "I love my eye lashes" or "I admire my body's strength to deliver my children." Every day, return to this routine to see if you can add to your list of positive attributes about your body.

The other problem is that you need to reconsider how you treat your body. What simple acts could you perform that would better express your love for your body (or your attempt to do so)? You can decide to commit to getting up five minutes earlier each day or setting an alarm for when you'll go to bed.

Even if we don't now feel that way, we will start to sincerely believe in body love the more we can offer and use these skills.

Practicing Mind Love

Take a moment to make a short inventory of your mental judgements or thoughts. How confident are you in your intelligence? How creative do you believe you are? What do you think about your thought patterns? We must be mindful of where we are right now while we acknowledge the regions of the mind that we want to work on. Salute your intellect! Praise your mind for what it is capable of doing.

In the same way that we must take care of our bodies, we must also take care of our minds in order to provide them with the resources they require to function at their peak. We must exercise the mind to strengthen it, just like a muscle. Learning is one of the best things you can do for your mind as far as self-care is concerned. Reading books, listening to podcasts, or engaging in difficult dialogues with others can all be effective learning methods. You can experiment with new pastimes and subjects that interest you. All of these activities stimulate your mind.

Practicing Soul Love

Learn more about who you are outside of the roles and labels you play. What central beliefs guide you? What makes you tick? When everything else is taken away, who are you left with? I'm challenging you to start journaling about this. You can learn more about your deep personality through a variety of books and websites, whether it's a quiz or a written analysis. start probing farther.

Give yourself permission to calm down. We can start to connect with something larger, whether it be your higher self, God, spirit guides, etc., when we can quiet the world around us and our busy minds. We can connect with our soul or spirit by spending time in meditation, whether it be seated or active.

We might experience some magical changes as a result of discovering self-love in many facets of our lives. We start to establish clear boundaries with other people, decline offers of help, and cease tolerating abuse. Self-care becomes a top concern as we grow to deeply believe that taking care of ourselves is for the benefit of everyone else.