How To Fall In Love With YOU

It may not be Valentine's day anymore, but there's never a wrong time to talk about love.

Society tends to define love through romantic-comedy cliches: boy meets girl, boy courts girl, then they fall in love, some shit happens, but they eventually live happily ever after, blah blah blah, etc. The reality is: love doesn't have to be romantic. It really shouldn't be defined at all. Love is all around us. Love is the vibration and energy of source (a.k.a. God or The Universe).

It's important to love yourself before you can love someone else and it's important to understand your own emotions before tending to the emotions of others. People can only feel for others as deeply as they've felt their own emotions. If you don't let yourself feel your emotions, you wouldn't be able to empathize with someone else. To better explain this concept, imagine you have two cups.

The first cup is filled with your own negative emotions, or general emotions that have yet to be acknowledged. The second cup is your love cup - the one you would use to pour from to give love to other people. Now ideally, the first cup should be empty because you need to acknowledge and clear your own emotions before empathizing and taking on the emotions of anyone else. Clear this daily! The second cup, however, should be full. As they say, "you can't pour from an empty cup." You should be filled with your own self love before you can give love to anyone else.

Self love means taking a break from giving away your time, energy, and resources to other people and giving it to yourself for a change. This can be challenging for people who are natural nurturers and givers, but it's necessary to reclaim your energy or you can be left feeling drained and in extreme cases, even sick. I've listed some practices that have helped me below to get you started.

Self Love Practices

1. Open The Windows! Get Fresh Air and Sunlight

To let the love in, first let the sunshine in! There are countless external benefits to getting some sun rays, but most people don't realize the internal benefits as well. Getting sunlight can help clear and balance your crown chakra which will allow you to have more clarity of thought. It's also important to breath in new air instead of stale air that has been trapped in a room with dense energy. If you're not consistently clearing the energy with other tools, it's helpful to open a door or a window.

2. Make a "Things That Make Me Happy" List

What do you consider to be the best things in life? Do you like the beach? Do puppies make you smile? Figure out what puts you in a great mood and adjust your life accordingly! Keep this list around to refer to if ever you're feeling down.

3. Treat Yo Self

Treat yourself as you would a new born baby. Give yourself all the attention you need. Book that massage you desperately need, get a haircut, light some candles and take a long salt bath, watch your favorite movie, read an amazing book, listen to some high vibe music, and splurge on a cool gift for yourself. Remember to be your own best friend before being one for other people.

4. Declutter Your Spaces

Your personal spaces often reflect whats going on inside your head. Is your room crowded or organized? Do you have trash stashed somewhere in your car or does it look brand new? Evaluate your spaces and reorganize if necessary. Clear out the negative energy, and you'll feel a weight lift from you.

5. Sort Your Needs From Your Wants

We can be so concerned with our responsibilities, that we rarely give ourselves time to stop and think about what we really want out of life. Take some time out and contemplate. Meditate on it and write down what comes to mind. Then sort out what is needed, versus what is wanted at this present moment. You may be surprised when you find that something you put in the want category for years is really something you've been desperately needing. For example, have you been telling yourself for years that you want to start eating healthier and incorporating vegetables in your diet? Well, if you don't put that in the need category, you're most likely not going to do it. And you SHOULD. Be discerning, but remember that if it's good for your health, it's important!

6. Prioritize Your Goals And Take Action

Do you have a business or career goal that's always been on the back of your mind, but you just never had time to get to it? Now's the time to start planning out your steps! Remember Rome wasn't built in a day. It's all in the baby steps. When I bought this website over a year ago, I had no idea what it was even going to be for - I just knew I wanted to have a website! Now it's grown into something even greater and more fulfilling than I could've imagined. If you have a goal, get started on it! Take the first step. Even if it's a lil baby step. The rest will fall into place if you work on it slowly and consistently.

7. Try New Things On Your Bucket List

Try new things that excite you! Even if you have to do them alone. Because if you always wait for someone else to join you, you may not make it through that list of yours. I get it, it can be daunting at first to be pushed out of your comfort zone, but once you overcome any initial challenges you'll feel the reward of taking a risk. You may even meet some interesting new people and make friends. Some of my best friends were met at events that I went into feeling out of place and awkward as hell, but it always worked out. Remember, if you're authentically yourself, you're always on the right path.

8. Embrace Gratitude

Always remember that you're blessed. If you have a roof over you head, you're blessed. If you're alive and healthy, you're blessed. Don't forget all the little ways that you are so lucky! Pick at least one thing to be grateful for everyday and think about it for a minute or two. Feel the immense gratitude you have for it. It's huge mood booster that's quick, simple, and free!

Once you fill up that cup of yours and you're feeling amazing, you can start to fill up other people. Or better yet, teach them how to fill themselves with love. If everyone in the world truly loved themselves, there would be no reason to hate. This is an important truth.

Wishing you all many blessings,