Simple and Effective Habits to Incorporate Self-Love

By: Kristine Habibi, MS, LPC-A

To have self-love means to have a positive regard for oneself. Self-love is essential for overall mental well-being, healthy relationships, building resilience, authenticity, and ultimately happiness.

We often hear that we should practice self-love, but what exactly is that and how can we incorporate it into our lives? To have self-love means to have unconditional positive regard for oneself. Self-love is essential for overall mental well-being, healthy relationships, building resilience, authenticity, and ultimately happiness.

Fortunately, there are many simple ways we can foster the development of self-love. It just takes some time and effort to develop new habits by using a few tools which keep the topic within our conscious awareness. Are you ready? Keep in mind that incorporating tools for improving self-love is in many ways similar to improving your appearance through physical exercise – you have to be consistent to see real results.

Here are 7 Tips for Incorporating Self-Love:

1. List five things that you are thankful for each morning as soon as you wake up.
   

2. Avoid negative self-talk such as “I am ugly” or “I am fat”. Instead, fact check yourself and repeat what is actually true. If you speak negatively to yourself, your reality will become negative.
   

3. Treat yourself as you would treat a loved one. Do kind and thoughtful things for yourself, just as you would for someone you care about.
   

4. Fuel your body with nutrient-dense foods. Your healthiest self is your most beautiful self, and your body deserves healthy food.
   

5. Learn about yourself. Try new hobbies, explore your personality type, investigate your love language.
   

6. Work towards self-acceptance.
   

7. Lastly, set boundaries when needed. Remember that you will never make everyone happy, and that is okay.

Self-love is essential because it lays the foundation for a healthy and fulfilling life, enabling individuals to navigate challenges, build meaningful relationships, and pursue personal growth and happiness. The journey to self-love is not easy, but with these simple steps, you will be well on your journey to achieving self-love.

Kristine is supervised by Thomas O. Whitehead, LPC-S.