We talk about self-love a lot pertaining to the healing process, but how do we go about actually practicing it? Instinctively we know it’s harmful to hate ourselves. We sense how limiting and destructive it can be when we don’t love ourselves. When it comes to practicing self-love and incorporating it into our daily lives, we often don’t know where to start. We can treat practicing self-love the way we would implement any other exercise or habit, with daily focus and setting intentions. Here are some practical ways you can practice self-love and incorporate it into your regular routine. When you start to really embrace the idea of self-love, you’ll be surprised how much more easily you’re able to do other important healing work, such as accepting your emotions, forgiving yourself and ridding yourself of shame in order to move forward in your recovery.
The same way we have a gratitude practice to help ourselves see the blessings in our lives and feel more joy on a regular basis, we can have a self-gratitude practice to help ourselves see how wonderful we actually are. List some things you feel grateful for about yourself. Don’t let your low self-esteem tell you there isn’t anything. We all have positive qualities and gifts to be thankful for. Maybe you’re a loyal friend. Maybe you have a particular skill you’re proud of. Maybe you have a beautiful singing voice. Start making it a habit to celebrate yourself for any and every little thing about yourself that inspires gratitude in you.
One of the best things we can do to practice self-love is to start creating distance between ourselves and the toxic things in our lives. Whether it’s a bad habit or a bad relationship, toxicity brings us down, fuels our addictions and contributes to our depression. Tell yourself you deserve better. Remind yourself that you deserve to be at peace. Once you make inner peace a priority in your life, the toxic parts of your life will start to fall away. We start to make better choices. We create healthier boundaries for ourselves. We develop better habits. Shedding toxicity in all its forms is something we can actively do to practice self-love.
Riverside Recovery is here to help you reclaim the life you love. You haven’t lost everything to addiction, and you don’t need to. Call us today. (800) 871-5440.