Lucille Ball once said, “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.”
There are many ways you can love all of who you are.
But if you have been taught that consistent self-love and daily self-care practices are selfish, loving who you are may not feel comfortable at first.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, what better time than now to rewrite the narrative on what love is for you.
Whether it is a loving relationship with family, friends, or a romantic partner, we all desire to give and receive love. But in our search for love, is it possible we have overlooked the single, most important relationship of all?
That is the loving relationship we have with the one person we spend more time with than anyone else.
Ourself.
In this article, and the accompanying video, we are going to explore how to love more of yourself through a 28-day inner journey.
Be the Love You Seek
How often have you wondered what your life would look and feel like if you could magically bottle up a moment’s worth of unconditional love to experience all the time?
Some will say this is not possible. What if it is?
Like you, I have experienced varying degrees of love. I have also experienced what I would describe as the opposite of love.
From betrayal and deep sadness from losing a loved one, to indescribable bliss of feeling loved and valued by another, the spectrum of emotions we experience with love is vast.
In those moments when we are feeling loved or giving love to another person, it is euphoric. The flipside of that is deeply uncomfortable when we don’t feel loved.
How do we find our emotional balance in this seemingly turbulent ocean of love’s erratic and unpredictable ebbs and flows?
The answer is to be the love you seek.
Love Yourself as You Would Like to Be Loved
Persian poet Rumi once wrote, “What you seek is seeking you.”
Does this mean if you are seeking love with another person, there is someone ‘out there’ who is seeking you?
Sure, you can look at it that way. But what if the love you are seeking is not outside of you but within you?
To put this into perspective, imagine your ideal romantic partner or a best friend.
I suspect you have some beautiful traits and qualities that could more than equal anything another person could gift you with in a loving relationship.
Now, what if you took those same traits and qualities and lovingly applied them to yourself?
Be the Object of Your Own Affection
What all of this comes down to is that whatever we desire in our life – be it a loving relationship with a friend or a romantic partner – we must be willing to embody what we desire from another and be that for ourselves first.
You may already be well on your way to doing this.
However, if you are like many who are 60 and over, the idea of practicing self-love can feel uncomfortable at first.
Wherever you are with loving yourself, you are in the ideal place to begin loving more of who you are.
To get started, I invite you to go on a 28-day inner journey.
Why 28 days?
There are 28 days in February this year.
February is synonymous with love. Everywhere you look there is an array of symbols, quotes, articles, movies, and music all dedicated to love.
Whether you are in a romantic relationship or not, the expectations for love, coupled with the longing for love, can be both intoxicating and downright overwhelming this time of year.
Instead of waiting for someone to show up and sweep you off your feet, I invite you to create your own set of loving activities and practice them for the next 28-days and beyond.
Where do you begin?
By making yourself the object of your own affection.
28-Days of Loving Affirmations & Journaling
Whatever ways you choose to shower yourself with love and affection, two proven methods that will serve as foundational pillars for your inner journey are affirmations and journaling.
For these next 28-days, I encourage you to combine these two activities. Here’s how.
- Join me in the accompanying video for this article. Along with additional insights and a three-part action item, I am going to also share with you 28 self-love affirmations.
- For the next 28-days, I encourage you to say one of the 28 affirmations each day.
- After you speak each affirmation out loud, take some time to journal why that affirmation is true for you.
- Next, journal a list of loving activities you can engage in that demonstrate the affirmation to yourself.
- From that list, choose at least one activity and then lovingly engage in it during the day.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What ways are you currently showing love to yourself every day? If you have a favorite loving affirmation you say to yourself, what is it?
