I am on a journey. A journey in which I am learning to love myself. A journey in which I find a way to be kinder to myself, in which my own opinions and desires matter more to me than those of the people around me and where comparison is banished from my thoughts and my life. I don't get this right most days and I probably don't even get it right most hours.....but I'm trying. I'm paying closer attention to the language that I am using when I talk to myself and I am gently reminding myself that I need to love me.

I have found that for me, one of the easiest ways to stop loving myself, is to let those negative and destructive thoughts run wild in my head.  Or even worse, to actually agree with them and make them a part of who I am.  I have realised that I am less loving towards myself when I haven't had enough sleep and when I find myself overwhelmed by situations or emotions.  I find it difficult to always put my emotions into words and if I do find a way to do that, I don't really know what to do with them once I have "identified" them. 

Making the conscious and repetitive decision to love myself, to be kinder to myself takes effort and patience...it's so easy to let auto pilot take over.

When I have been finding myself in these situations I have been asking myself the following questions;
"Am I being honest and real with myself?"
"Are my expectations in check?"
"Am I paying too much attention to what others want me to do?"

And from answering these questions properly I have learnt that loving myself involves;

• Honesty and Action. One without the other is a waste!
• Saying yes to new opportunities and no to the things that don't feel right to you or that don't fit into your own plan
• Not wasting time on things that are not important and that don’t help to open the door to loving yourself more
• Its about having and living your own dreams and not dreams of others or dreams that you feel you SHOULD have
• Being aware of how your body is reacting to things....that butterfly in your stomach, the tension in your shoulders - it's all trying to tell you something
• Standing up for yourself - especially when it's to close friends and family....or your boss.
• Turning off the TV and spending time doing something

This is only the start of my self love journey and I hope that you follow along with me...or perhaps even start your own.  Do you have things that you do to help you love yourself more?  Please do share!