How does gratitude change our lives and strengthen our self-love?
In this article you will learn: how to find and feel self-love? Why is gratitude for yourself a key aspect of a harmonious life? How does self-love determine the prospects of our life? What did Louise Hay say about self-love?
Self-love has always been a secret. There are so many ways to love and accept yourself. All of them really work. All of them can radically change your thinking, relationships, and attitude to life. However, there is a universal method that solves many mental issues and which begins the journey to self-love. And it is gratitude to yourself!
Without thoughts of selfishness, excessive attention to oneself, or obsession with one's own problems, but only the understanding that if you do not love yourself, you will never be able to love other people sincerely and fully.
Love as a feeling begins with total acceptance of oneself.
To find absolute self-love, start with small steps. First, try to treat yourself the way you treat your closest person: with understanding, respect, and care. Pay attention to your inner voice and replace self-criticism with gentleness and support. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
Repeat: "I am living for the first time. I am a human being. I am learning everything from scratch. I make mistakes to get the best result.”
Practice simple habits: keep a gratitude diary, take time for yourself, try meditating and walking alone. Over time, you will begin to feel that self-love is not just a feeling, but a state that grows every day as you accept yourself for who you are. And this acceptance becomes absolute.
Love yourself. Allow your love to manifest, and the world will beat a path to your door to love you back. Louise Hay
How do you know if you don't love yourself?
Read these common signs to help you recognize when you are not loving yourself enough. If some of the points are familiar to you or are present in your life, it means that you should increase your self-love. To get the most out of life. To enjoy your presence. To appreciate every day you live. To be a support and role model for yourself.
Source: These signs were published on the Quora platform. The knowledge platform is a social service where users can ask open-ended questions and get professional answers.
I perceive the world through my insecurities.
No one understands me, I am not good enough and I always compare myself to others.
I humiliate others and gossip.
I do it to make myself feel better.
I cannot clearly define who I am.
It's because I want everyone to like me.
I'm afraid to let you see the real me.
I don't tell you what I like, what my flaws are, what I really think. I have many secrets that I am not ready to share.
Being alone is uncomfortable for me.
I need to be constantly distracted by someone, something, to avoid being alone. Being alone is not comfortable for me.
I feel bad about myself.
Am I a friend or an enemy? I can say a bad word about myself that devalues me and offends me. I realize this, but I keep repeating it.”
The idea of taking care of myself seems unnatural.
I don't want to go to doctors and solve my problems. I don't take it seriously. I don't eat well. I never think about doing something for my own pleasure. I rarely think of myself as a person who needs to be taken care of.”
I do unhealthy things that hurt me.
I stay in unhealthy relationships and toxic situations.
I do not recognize my own efforts.
I do not feel proud of myself, my achievements and victories. I consider it a manifestation of selfishness.
To change these thoughts, try this.
The first step of self-love is to express gratitude to yourself every day.
This is a daily habit that a person usually realizes and practices after a difficult situation in life has occurred. And looking back, they think, “If all this hadn't happened, I would have been the happiest. But gratitude is not only an identifier of good and bad situations, it is a way of having a sincere conversation with yourself. A way to take time for yourself and try to recognize the best in yourself. As you look for moments when you are grateful to yourself, your love grows.
So every night when you go to bed (probably one of your favorite places in the world), spend 5 minutes reflecting on your day and tell yourself everything you are grateful for today. Why you should love yourself today.
On “good days,” your list of good things will be long and self-affirming. On “bad days,” the list may be short and similar to this: “I'm very grateful that this day is over, I'm in bed and I can finally rest “. Expressing gratitude is an important self-care activity that changes the way you define who you are. Thanks to gratitude, you accept yourself. You begin to understand and see the good things that happen to you every day more clearly. You perceive self-love not as a gift, but as an obligatory feeling that ensures your full and happy life.
Gratitude in any form makes people happy!
In positive psychology, gratitude is defined as an ecological way of objectively recognizing the good things in life. Psychologists have defined gratitude as a positive emotional response we experience when we give or receive a benefit from someone.
Gratitude in all its forms is associated with happiness. Whether we say “thank you” to someone or receive the same from others, it makes us feel good and encouraged. Expressions of gratitude help us build and maintain long-term relationships, cope with difficulties, and recover from them with strength and motivation.
In a survey on gratitude among adults, British psychologist and wellness expert Robert Holden found that 65 out of 100 people chose happiness over health, even though they indicated that both aspects are equally important for a good life. In his study, Holden suggested that many psychopathological conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, are caused by unhappiness. That is, a lack of conscious gratitude to oneself and others.
The second step of self-love is to understand the reasons why it is important to thank yourself.
The 5 most important reasons are.
1. It builds resilience to stress.
Research from the University of California at Davis shows that regular gratitude practice reduces cortisol (the stress hormone) by 23%. When we thank ourselves for our efforts, it helps us cope better with challenges.
2. It increases the level of happiness.
According to the Harvard Medical Journal, keeping a daily gratitude journal can increase life satisfaction by up to 25%.
3. It helps build positive self-esteem.
Self-appreciation is the act of recognizing one's own importance and value, which helps to build self-confidence.
4. Gratitude is good for growth.
Practicing gratitude changes your life and helps you grow as a leader. Gratitude leads you to patience and courage. It makes you realize that there are other people on your path who are also grateful to have you in their lives.
5. Gratitude changes your past.
Research shows that post-traumatic growth is most likely to occur when you “reframe” an experience with gratitude. Gratitude can change an experience and even the most horrific trauma. Through gratitude, you know that this whole experience happened for you.
There are highs and lows in life. The highs are your happiest moments. The lows are difficult experiences, situations that completely destroy your perception of the world, yourself, and life in general. The highs are very pleasant, but your lows make you better. Success and total happiness never change a person.
How does gratitude affect mental health?
In a scientific study by psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough (University of California, Davis), it was proven that gratitude
- Reduces the level of depressive symptoms.
- Improves the quality of sleep.
- Reduces the level of burnout.
People who regularly practice gratitude have higher levels of emotional resilience and cope better with difficulties, which means they are less hard on themselves because they know their value and know how to love themselves.
Here are 5 simple practices to start practicing gratitude:
1. Keep a gratitude diary.
Write down 3-5 things you are grateful for today (every day). It should be a small, minimal victory that relates only to your rhythm, lifestyle, and personal desires. Getting up early, going for a walk, not looking at your phone in the morning, getting ready for work or the gym counts.
2. Stop self-criticism.
Instead of “I did it wrong,” say: “I tried, and that's the most important thing. I'll try again later.”
3. Reflect.
Every week, remind yourself of your even the smallest achievements. It is very important to analyze your everyday life, because only analysis will help you understand how much you have done for yourself.
4. Draw a table in your phone's notes.
Draw a table and title it “My Life”. Divide the chart into different areas (work, relationships, health and development). In each area, write down what you are grateful for in that area.
Examples:
In the area of health: "Thank you for taking the time to walk.”
In the area of relationships:“Thank you for being supportive of a friend/lover.”
This will help you to see all the aspects of your life where you are showing care and attention to yourself that you hadn't even noticed before.
5. Do the exercise “A Gift to Yourself. ”
Imagine that you are giving yourself a gift for all your achievements. It can be something symbolic:
Examples:
“I imagine giving myself flowers for persevering.”
“I imagine giving myself a book for the interesting ideas I have come up with.”
This exercise will teach you to associate your own achievements with rewards.
Realize the power of gratitude and practice techniques daily to get there:
- Gratitude will change your perspective. About yourself. About the people around you. About the meaning of life.
- Gratitude will make you look at things differently.
- Gratitude will help you appreciate all the good things in your life.
- Gratitude will help you find out what you really want.
- Being grateful to yourself makes you see the benefits of life.
- Gratitude will definitely cause post-traumatic growth, not stress.
- You need gratitude for a harmonious, healthy, and fulfilling life.
- Gratitude will turn difficult moments into a special situation in which you grew up. In which you changed yourself. To be better. To be happy. To fully accept and love yourself.
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Takes care of your hair after washing. First, put it on with the microfiber to your hair to remove excess water from your hair. After 3 minutes, put the turban on the silk side to minimize frizz and split ends.
2. Silk pillowcase Minimizes the appearance of creases on the face after sleep. Protects hair from tangling and frizz, and protects the skin from dust microorganisms that are usually found on a simple pillowcase and that cause rashes/redness on the face.
3. Silk For Hair A set for anti-aging hair and face care; the set includes a reversible silk turban and a silk pillowcase.
What did Louise Hay say about self-love?
The essence of her philosophy is that self-love is not selfishness, but the path to a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. She wrote: "When we love ourselves, everything in life begins to work for us.”
Books about self-love, positive thinking, and gratitude that you should add to your library:
1. “Life-changing thoughts” (Heart Thoughts). Author: Louise Hay
A collection of affirmations and meditations to help you focus on positive change and create harmony in your life.
2. “Love: How to Heal Your Life” (Loving Yourself to Great Health). Author: Louise Hay.
A guide to how taking care of yourself through love and healthy habits can change your life.
3. “The Art of Gratitude” (Attitudes of Gratitude). Author: M.J. Ryan.
The author offers readers practical advice on how to develop a sense of gratitude and make it a part of everyday life.
These books inspire people all over the world to develop self-love, confidence, work on their thinking, and find harmony in their lives. Perhaps they will inspire you as well.
Be grateful to yourself for reading this article to the end today and learning a little bit more about self-love, which is formed through gratitude to yourself, through silk care, and an ecological approach to your routine. We hope that you will definitely try to love yourself even more and we will help you with this.
With love
MOLODO
