#82: 3 Easy Ways to Love Yourself a Little More Every Day
Today I’m sharing three easy ways to love yourself a little more every day. This topic feels really important to me right now, really on my mind and in my heart, because I believe that we all hold a belief that any type of habit has to be a big production. We have to push ourselves in ways and make these big, grand gestures or big commitments to say, Okay, I'm going to do it like this.
For example, making a New Year's resolution. When we make those big resolutions, we're usually setting ourselves up for failure in some way, because they're not things that are necessarily sustainable for the long term.
It feels very present for me now to share things that you can do, that I do as well, that we can all benefit from, to support ourselves in the little moments. Life is really it's the compilation of all the little moments. So how can you love yourself more in your little moments to bring you more meaning, more fulfillment, more peace, more joy, more ease, whatever it is that you're looking for and searching for and wanting more of.
Today I’m sharing three easy ways to love yourself a little more every day. Please know that there are infinite ways that you can do this. I'm just choosing three here to support you in the short term, but we can always come back and talk about more ways.
The little moments can have a big impact. And this is not a way to give you more pressure or more stress to be worried in the little moments. It's to share with you that actually it is possible. If you want those little moments to mean something different to you, then you can have that happen. These little moments can support you more than you think they can. We're generally taught to kind of dismiss the smaller things. We’re told to pick the bigger things that will move the needle more. But those small, incremental changes, those little moments have a lot of power and potential in them.
First Way to Love Yourself a Little More Every Day: Speak Kindly to Yourself
The first way to love yourself a little more every day is to speak kindly to yourself. I'd love for you to take a minute and reflect on how you speak to yourself these days. What is usually running through your head?
Is it usually negative thoughts of something you're missing, or you're not this, or you're not that, or maybe you're telling yourself you should do this, or you should do that, and this.
The first way to love yourself a little more in every moment, is to speak kindly to yourself, love your body, and love your mind.
Tell yourself supportive things that you appreciate about yourself in the little moments. When I when I first started doing this, I thought it felt a little strange and a little uncomfortable. However, now it's something that I catch myself doing more often and more freely. When I'm being negative to myself, I'm also able to identify that and switch to something positive more quickly.
What are ways that you can really speak more kindly to yourself?
Can you tell yourself that your body is strong?
Can you tell yourself that your mind is sharp?
Instead of focusing on, I forgot to write a note for my kids class, how about you focus on all the things that you remember to do and all of the things that you remember every day that help to hold up your household.
I'll share a personal example of mine. I came home from the gym one day and I looked at myself in the mirror, and I felt so bloated. I said to myself, I'm so bloated. This is not the size I want to be.
I caught myself and I stopped. I said “Mary, what are you doing? This is not helpful to you at all. It's not helpful to your body, it's not helpful to your mind. It's just not helpful.”
I caught myself and I reprogrammed it. I said, “You know what? I'm strong. I just went to the gym. I'm getting stronger every day. My body is amazing for what it does, all of the organs, all of the processing, the limbs, my feet, that walk me everywhere, everything about it is amazing.”
If you've ever had a moment like that, I encourage you to try to flip the script and speak kindly to yourself. It could be first thing when you wake up in the morning say a few nice things about yourself to start your day, or it could be when you catch yourself in a moment where you're starting down a negative path that you can reframe it to something else.
Really reflect on if you speak kindly to yourself today, and if you don't, are there ways that you can shift that for yourself? It's really such a powerful way to love yourself a little more.
Second Way to Love Yourself a Little More Every Day: Take Breaks
The second example of the second way to love yourself a little more is to take breaks. Take breaks during the day.
Check in with yourself.
How are you doing?
How are you feeling?
What do you need in this moment?
I had two clients in the last two weeks come to me and say that they don't take a break during the day. As soon as they start work, they just they're overloaded and they have to get through it. They're on back to back calls, and then when they finish the day, they close up their work.
No, no, no!
Please take a break.
You're not helpful to anyone if you're pushing yourself so hard. It's flat out not sustainable.
If you find yourself not taking breaks or not checking in with yourself, consider incorporating it. We all deserve time to ourselves, even if it's five minutes.
Where can you find five minutes to take a break, check in with your body, and maybe take some deep, conscious breaths. Something that has you checking in and taking care of yourself a little more. This is a powerful way to love yourself a little more. It's really, really important.
This is a way that you can make a small shift but really feel the impact.
Third Way How to Love Yourself a Little More Every Day: Move Your Body
The third way to love yourself a little more is to move your body. Move your body and activate your mind body connection.
This doesn't mean that you have to go have an intense 30 minute workout routine. It’s about moving your body to really connect more to yourself.
What I've experienced and what I support clients with is really activating the mind body connection through identifying the thoughts and the patterns and then moving into your body as a way to connect more deeply with yourself.
Our bodies are telling us things all the time. They're always trying to talk to us. And when you pay attention to that, you can go deeper into this work and really reframe and align yourself in new ways.
I’m sharing this as a way to love yourself a little more is because when you move your body to activate this mind body connection, you activate that inner knowing within yourself.
Movement including dancing, singing, or even walking or running. You could have other forms of exercise in there too. It’s really meant to be things that you're not used to doing that can unlock and open more of the joy within you.
There are so many times I'm reminded about this by my girls. Children live in such a way that they're really connected so much more to the joy and to the fun of things in every moment. As adults, we may think, “That’s a waste of time. Why would I do that? That’s silly. I'm not a kid.”
When really, sometimes breaking out into a little dance or song is really freeing and really a powerful way to shift your mood and shift your energy. When I say move your body to activate this, it's really to activate this connection to yourself, to your creative outlet, to your inner knowing. The way that you can do that most easily is by experimenting and finding the joy in some of these fun things. Open yourself up to movement that is related to play.
Dancing and singing happen to be two of my favorites. I also speak a lot about walking in nature, but more specifically, if you're short on time, and it can tie into the previous one of taking breaks. You can put on a song that you love that's really energy boosting, and just allow yourself to really feel it, allow yourself to really move with the music, and it'll open you up in a new way. It'll connect you and activate you in a different way. Super, super powerful. I encourage you to try it.
Conclusion
These are three easy ways to love yourself a little more every day:
Speak kindly to yourself about your mind and your body
Take breaks to check in with your body
Move your body and embrace play to connect to your inner knowing
Remember, this is a process. It is not a one and done type of activity. It's really about the incremental changes and how you implement them into your every day life to love yourself a little more.
I hope you found all of these helpful. I'd love to hear from you about the ways that you love yourself or if you give any of these a try and you have feedback, please feel free to reach out. I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram. I'm also on Voxer at @MaryClavieres.
If you want support on your journey, I'd be honored to work with you. You’re invited to check out my Human Design readings so that you can learn more about your own energy and how you operate. You can also learn about Voxer coaching, which is great for people that are on the go and want real time, customized support and guidance. It’s about meeting you where you are right now and what you're going through. You can message me on Voxer (@ maryclavieres) if you’d like to chat or if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for being here. I so appreciate your time and your presence, spending it here with me, and I'll speak to you next week.
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#57: What Is Gratitude, Really?
#60: A 7-Step Framework for Living an Aligned Life
#63: The Power of Your Mind (The Power Series)
#64: What Is Your Body Telling You (The Power Series)
#65: Are you connected to your highest self? (The Power Series)
#66: How to Get the Results You Want in Your Life (The Power Series)
