How to Love Yourself Before You Look For Love – Part 2

Shoshana’s Comments: This the second and final part of the How to Love Yourself Before You Look For Love series , be sure to read Part 1 first. It’s important to work on all of the steps when trying to learn how to love yourself.

Are you ready for a little self acceptance? You need to be ready to discover your authentic self. This will help prepare you for when you start looking for a healthy relationship . You may encounter negative responses from some people in your life, but you can’t let that affect your positive thinking or lead you away from self acceptance.

Ten Ways to Love Yourself — Part II

By: Christine Hogan

Are you ready to find love by learning to love yourself?

Louise L. Hay talks about the “Ten Ways to Love Yourself” in her book The Power Is Within You. In today’s blog post, Part II, we will be exploring numbers 6 through 10.

The sixth way to love yourself is to seek out and accept support from others. We are social creatures and need to give and receive nurturance. Often times we believe that not asking for help is a strong thing to do, but actually the exact opposite is true.

It takes a great deal of ego strength to say to ourselves, “I cannot do this alone, I need help.” When we receive support from others, we are strengthening our connectiveness to all within the universe.

The seventh way is to embrace our negatives. We all have a dimension to us that is known as the “shadow.” This is where we keep the ideas about ourselves that we are not willing to bring into the light.

We are whole persons, and consist of both light and dark energies. If we hate and hide parts of ourselves, what can we expect those parts to do for us? Love your faults. Love your strengths. Love your whole being.

Our shadows bring texture to our lives. Simply because we do not understand the purpose of these negatives, does not mean that they do not have a purpose in the grand scheme of things. Cultivate self acceptance and use humor to help you come to terms with your inner dark side.

The eighth way to love yourself is take care of this earthly vessel we inhabit, which is known as our body. We are more than our bodies, but we use our bodies to get around in this world.

Would you choose to ride around town in a dilapidated and broken vehicle? Take loving care of this vehicle you call your body.
The ninth way to love yourself is to practice what Louise Hay calls, “mirror work.” Say your affirmations in front of a mirror and you will learn the truth of your existence.

You need not use a physical mirror, you can talk to yourself instead. You can hold a whole conversation with yourself, and in the process solve many conflicts.

When doing mirror work, it is very likely that you will encounter a negative response from yourself. This is a very special gift.

That negative response will actually give you insight into what is holding you back from loving yourself. Turn that negative response into a positive affirmation, and break the chains of your negative self talk.

And finally, the tenth way to love yourself is to start doing it NOW! Do not put it off, saying perhaps when I am smarter, thinner, worthier, better looking, etc. I will start to love myself. Do it in the here and now! Love yourself unconditionally.

Once you have learned to love yourself, you will be able to love others. Essentially, we cannot give away something that we do not own. Louise Hay claims that, “the quickest way to change any problem is to love who we are.”

Shoshana’s Comments: This the second part of the How to Love Yourself Before You Look For Love series , be sure to read Part 1 first. It’s important to work on all of the steps when trying to learn how to love yourself.

photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³