Appreciate Yourself More with These 5 Simple Rituals

You should always have in mind that in order to give away the love, you have to cultivate it within yourself first and if you want other people to love and respect you, you need to treat yourself with love and respect!

If you start practicing these 5 self-love rituals, not only you will love and appreciate yourself more, but other people around you will love and appreciate you even more as well:

1. Treat yourself with a gift.

How many times have you bought a gift for your partner, birthday gift for your friends, surprise gifts for the ones you care about? When was the last time you bought a gift for yourself, as a token of appreciation and love for that amazing, lovable, caring and compassionate person that you are? When was the last time you bought flowers for yourself, just to brighten up your day (many of us wait for a partner to show a gesture of love in this way, but why to wait for them? If you love flowers, get yourself a gorgeous bouquet). Remember, you are worth it!

2. Take time for yourself.

Women, in general, get so busy taking care of others that they forget to take some time to rest and recharge. Sometimes, we even feel guilty for taking the time to rest or to do some activity which brings us joy.  We often believe that in order to be loved and feel worthy we have to give and give all the time. Being compassionate is a beautiful thing, but exhausting yourself to the point of burning out will not make you a more compassionate person, but more selfish.

When we overwork and overextend ourselves, we steal the time, energy and joy that we were supposed to give to ourselves and we aren’t able to give ourselves as well to others.  Not to mention, overextending ourselves can go as far as harming our health, creating stress, anxiety and chronic tiredness.
Taking time for ourselves is crucial in order that we can show up greatly for others, with our love tank full and energy recharged!

3. Take care of your body.

If your partner would tell you that he loves you all the time but he wouldn’t touch you, would you believe him? Do you state or believe that you love yourself and your body, but you do not take the time for a self-care routine? Nourishing your body with good quality cosmetics, lotions, getting a massage, eating nutritious meals, moving your body in a way that brings you joy (dancing, Pilates, yoga, swimming, jogging), getting enough rest and sleep, will help you build a loving relationship with your body and feel more confident, sensual, desirable, feminine and seductive.

4. Let go of negative self-talk.

In order to truly love and accept yourself, you have to let go of negative thoughts about yourself and your body. When we use language like,
“I am so stupid/clumsy/naive…!”
“I always mess things up!”
“I am not good enough…”
“I look so fat/ugly/skinny…”
“I am fat like a cow/pig/elephant…”
we only make ourselves feel worse, more disappointed, frustrated and even end up hating or despising ourselves. Write down in your journal or on a piece of paper all the negative thoughts you keep on repeating in your head and make a commitment to yourself that you will not think or say them out loud anymore! I

f you ever catch yourself in this old habit, become aware of these thoughts and replace them with positive ones. Instead of focusing on your weight or other “imperfections” on your body, find something beautiful on your body and give yourself a compliment. Write down 10 of your biggest achievements and keep that list with you to read, for those days when you catch yourself thinking or saying how incapable (or something else negative) you are.

You are amazing, only you need to allow yourself to feel and see it!

5. Forgive yourself.

Forgive yourself for all the mistakes, failures, bad choices, negative self-talk, weaknesses, bad habits, goals you did not achieve, or for allowing yourself to trust someone who hurt you in the past. All this is now part of your past and you do not need to keep on carrying that heavy load on your shoulders. Whatever wrong you may feel you did in your past, you have hopefully learned from it and when you know better you can do better! Accept all your mistakes and your past with love and gratitude as it has been your LWA (“Life Wisdom Academy”) and it has shaped you and molded you to become the kind of a person that you are today. Today is a new day and a bright new chance to start building the amazing life that you have always been dreaming of!