Loving Yourself Comes First
It’s February, the month of Valentine’s, symbolising days of love, romance and attraction. The Psychologist in me wants to talk about love and attachment. The Yoga Teacher voice wants to highlight how the practice of yoga enhances self-awareness and self-acceptance. Thus, the core theme here is how we relate to ourselves with love? Bringing the two together, I am sharing reflections on why the journey with love has to start from within. No matter what your gender, sexuality or current relationship status, loving yourself comes first.
Chris Pentriss suggested that a relationship is “like a garden” with the idea that we need to water, weed, fertilize and care for our plants in order for them to grow. So what about the love relationship with ourselves, rather than the other? If we are each our own garden, how do we weed so that we grow? How do we care for ourselves in order to flourish? What are our individual needs to thrive?
Self-love is not just walks in nature and bubble baths.
On a deeper level, it is your psychological and emotional relationship with yourself. We readily extend kindness to others yet it can be challenging to turn such sentiments inwards. Do you believe that you are a valuable and worthy person? Are you able to positively disentangle the regard for your own interest from a guilt of feeling ‘selfish’. Looking after yourself as number one is not selfish when it is re-addressing the balance in what we often subjugate – the me, myself and I. What actions are you actively taking to appreciate yourself and maintain a regard for one’s own wellbeing and happiness.
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