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Reflection Questions and Practices for Self-Love

This post contains some reflection questions and practices for self-love, which I have written about in earlier blog posts.

You don’t necessarily need to read my earlier blog posts to answer these questions or to do the practices, but if you would like to read them, here they are:

Some Earlier Posts on Self-Love

The Gift of Respect: Treating Ourselves Like People and Not Objects

And The Gift of Presence: Being an Empowering Friend to Ourselves

That I’m Not Good Enough Feeling and the Compassionate Mindset

I recommend that you write about one, a few, or all of these questions. In the act of writing, we often discover new things about ourselves of which we were previously unaware.

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Questions for Reflection:

What is one of the biggest obstacles you have that gets in the way of loving yourself? Which of the gifts discussed previously—respect, presence, and compassion—addresses this obstacle?

Which of the three gifts discussed previously is the hardest for you–respect, presence, or compassion? What is especially hard about this gift for you to put into practice?

Which of the three gifts is the easiest for you to practice? What is easier about this gift as compared to one of the other ones?

In regards to the gift of respect, I think most of occasionally treat ourselves as though our main goal in life is to get other stuff, a habit which often leads to self-objectification. Which of the following statements are things you have thought about yourself?

My main goal in life is to be attractive and get attention or love from others.

The main goal of my life is to make lots of money.

My main goal in life is to secure a partner (husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc.).

The main goal of my life is to be successful in my career.

My main goal in life is to lose weight. 

How has one or more of the above beliefs made it difficult for you to be a good friend to yourself and respect yourself?

In regards to the gift of presence, how often during the day do you spend time being with yourself, not thinking about much of anything except the present moment? What keeps you from being able to do this?

In regards to the gift of compassion, how comfortable are you with allowing yourself to make mistakes? If you are not comfortable making mistakes, why is this? What belief about yourself does this discomfort reflect?

 Suggestions for Action

Practicing Presence: One of the best ways we can practice respect, presence, and compassion for ourselves is to spend time meditating or being silent each day. During meditation, we spend time with ourselves, notice any feeling or thoughts that arise, and accept them without judgment.

In doing so, we give ourselves the gift of respect, presence, and compassion. And this is what an excellent friend does. In doing so, we create a peaceful space of safety and acceptance.

There is no one right way to meditate. It’s perfectly fine if we meditate for one minute, five minutes, twenty minutes, or an hour. Whatever time you are able to meditate benefits you. It’s okay to sit to meditate or to lie on the floor or even to meditate while you are taking a bath.

In addition, it’s fine if thoughts come to your mind or you get a little distracted during meditation.  Just notice the thoughts that arise, accept them, and let them go.

Self-Pledge #2

There are many different breath patterns for meditation, but here are two I like. First, you might like breathing in a word and breathing out a word. For instance, sometimes when I am meditating, I breathe in the word “Love”. (You can think it or say it out loud) And I breathe out the word “Fear”. (You can think it or say it out loud). Another way to meditate is to inhale to the count of four; pause for two counts; and exhale to the count of four.

A Self-Pledge: Sometimes the best way for us to practice self-love is to speak to ourselves like we would speak to our own best friend. Here is a practice for speaking to ourselves in a friendly way that I find  helpful. Sitting in a chair or on the floor, put your hand over your heart and say, “I love you, (insert your name here). I will always support you and take care of you.  I always have your back.”

Think of how much it means to us when our friends say these types of encouraging words to us. The good news is that we can speaking these same encouraging words to ourselves all the time. (I recommend you say the words out loud to yourself, even if you also say them silently.)

Loving Thinking: A few years ago, I suddenly realized how frequently I spoke to myself in a negative, demeaning, or discouraging way. This surprised me because for all of my adult life I have been a teacher. And I am always very careful to praise my students sincerely. I realized I would never say to my students the things I used to say to myself.

When I realized I was thinking negative things about myself, I started practicing something I call “loving thinking”. When I practice loving thinking with myself, I encourage myself the way I would encourage a class of students. Here are some of the things I say to myself when I practice loving thinking:

You are smart and capable.

And you can figure out a solution to any problem you are facing right now.

You are doing excellent things, and you will keep doing excellent things.

And you have excellent creativity and problem-solving skills.

You have everything you need right now to be successful.

I recommend making time every day to repeat these loving thoughts to yourself. For instance, it could be a ritual you have right before you go to sleep. If you begin to say or think these loving thoughts to yourself on a regular basis, you will find that these will become your default thoughts about yourself and your condition. These thoughts will replace the negative things you usually say to yourself.

When your default thoughts about yourself are loving thoughts, it creates a wonderful space for you to develop confidence and excitement about your abilities and yourself in general.

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10 thoughts on “Reflection Questions and Practices for Self-Love”

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