The relationship with yourself

Loving yourself unconditionally will provide you with inner peace that serves as the foundation of how you view yourself and give love to others. We also believe that self-love gives you the strength and courage to pursue your dreams in life. When you love yourself, you recognise your worth and prioritise your needs which allows you to be the person you want to be.
In this blog post we want to put extra focus on nurturing the most important relationship in your life - the relationship with yourself! Below you will find valuable steps and tools to incorporate self-love into your daily life!

JOURNALING

Journaling is a powerful tool used to evoke mindfulness and to help you to stay in the present moment. Journaling is important because it helps you get your thoughts down on paper and it creates an opportunity to get your emotions out of your head and onto the paper where they can be easier to understand. 

If you are new to journaling, a good place to start is making a routine of it. Schedule a few minutes every morning or night and start out by writing some gratitudes, some affirmations or even just how you're feeling.

OBSERVE YOUR THOUGHTS

Observing your thoughts is an important habit to get into. Throughout our lives things happen to us, challenges arise and it's easy to react. If you are feeling anxious, stressed or out of alignment, a good way to get past these feelings and into a better headspace, is to observe your thoughts and recognise what's causing you to feel this way. 

Start by grounding yourself, noticing your surroundings. What can you hear, see, smell and feel. Really get in touch with your emotions and notice how you're feeling. Are you sad, stressed, tired, anxious, overwhelmed, or is it something else? After you identify the feeling, then think about what it might be that's bringing up this emotion. Is it a thought you had, is it the environment you're in or did something occur that caused these emotions to arise? Unfolding these emotions and feelings can be an amazing way to understand yourself and your thoughts more.

TIME SPENT DOING NOTHING

10-20 minutes a day of doing nothing can be a great mindfulness tool. Turn off all technology, find a space without any other people and just do nothing. Notice what's around you, the sounds you can hear, the things you can see. You might want to take a walk in nature or go for a swim, you might want to sit and eat your breakfast in peace tasting and enjoying every mouthful. 

In today's world we get so caught up in what's going on around us, our mind is always busy! It's great to set some time aside to do nothing besides just sitting with yourself. This small amount of time can be a great investment in your personal well-being. 

GRATITUDE

Practicing gratitude is a tool that allows you to raise your vibration, it allows you to take the time to notice and reflect on things that make you feel good. Making this a regular practice can bring about positive emotions, can make you feel more alive and is a great way to focus more on the good things happening in your life.

If you are new to practicing gratitude, set a few minutes aside everyday to think about, or journal the things you are grateful for in your life. Start off by thinking about things that make you happy, people in your life that you love and even the small little things that bring you joy. 

PUTTING YOUR HEALTH FIRST

Health isn't everything, but without it, everything else is nothing. We need our health to allow us to feel our best inside and out, we need our health to ensure we have enough energy to do the things we love and we need our health to live a joyous, thriving life. 

We would love to share a few small habits that you can implement in your daily life, to start putting your health first. Firstly, nourishing your body with a balanced diet is important. Eating a mixture of healthy foods along with some good for the soul treats! Secondly, moving your body in ways that you love. Keeping fit and healthy by exercising in a way that brings you joy. Thirdly, learning to relax and destress is a great way to put your health first. Even if you're just setting 5-10 minutes aside to do something relaxing for YOU. 

LEARN TO FORGIVE YOURSELF

This is a great practice to get into, it can sometimes be hard to forgive yourself for things you may have done in the past. However instead of developing feelings of regret and guilt, you can look at it in a positive light, by reflecting on those mistakes as an opportunity for growth and learning. Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, you are only human and it's important to give yourself grace, to accept yourself and to embrace yourself. 

Here are a few steps that you might find helpful, when learning to forgive yourself. Acknowledge the situation or mistake that has happened and think about how it's making you feel. Then think about the different things you can learn from what has happened, how can you grow from it and how can you make sure it won't happen again. It's important to feel the emotion but not to dwell on it, accept that it's happened and try to not be too critical of yourself. You are enough. 

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN HAPPINESS

This is an important thing to learn in life, it's key to be responsible for your own happiness and not to blame others for your unhappiness. This means figuring out and finding ways you can be truly happy, despite other people's behaviour and despite external circumstances.
Here are a few ways you can start taking responsibility for your own happiness: start by letting go of control, we cannot control other people and all circumstances, therefore it's important to accept that things are out of our control and our happiness shouldn't be defined by them. Start accepting others, everyone is different and has different values, beliefs and morals. It's key to not let your happiness rely on other people and their actions or words. 

PRACTICE SELF CARE

Self care is any activity that we do to care for ourselves on a mental, emotional or physical level. This is one of the most important things when it comes to loving yourself because you can't give from an empty cup, it's key to do things for yourself to fill your cup up first and ensure you are taking care of number one (YOU.) 

You can start caring for yourself by practicing getting enough sleep, eating foods that give you energy and bring about joy, moving your body and exercising. Start making time for things that make you FEEL GOOD! Read a book, go for a beach walk, make a home cooked meal, take a bubble bath, practice meditation and make sure you're turning it into a habit. Do one thing everyday that lights you up and brings you joy.

DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS

Comparison is the thief of all joy. Comparing yourself to others brings about low-self confidence, feelings of envy and leads you to devaluing yourself. Everyone is different, yet amazing in their own unique way and this is the same for you. 

Stop comparing yourself to others by looking at your own successes, stay in your own lane and believe you are destined for greatness. Start practicing gratitude, it forces us to look for the good things we already have in our lives. Start comparing yourself with your previous self instead of comparing with others, everyone is on their own journey in life and we all have a different path to walk. A great way to improve and to strive to become our best selves, is to aim to be better than we were yesterday, last week, last month, last year.

Remember you are unique and perfect in your own way.