Happy Valentines!
Today, don’t forget to love the most important person in your life. YOU!
Here are the four questions worth asking yourself periodically:
It won’t take longer than 5-10 minutes. Fill it out and have it by your bed or your desk, wherever you can access it quickly without having to pull it out of the drawer. It should be visible to you without having to think too much about it.
Whenever you are feeling down or need support, take a look at this sheet as a reminder to yourself how you can support and take care of you in the moment. It will inform you what will lift you up. It is super helpful because many times when you are down, the last person you will turn to is the very person you need the most: YOU! The very person who knows best about you, and has the most amount and best quality of information about you: yes, that is YOU!
Having done this work on a decent day, you will get to learn about yourself and how you get cheered up, what makes you feel supported, joy and happiness.
On another decent day, you can do more of these things to keep your spirit up.
On those occasions you feel a bit less than well, you can seek out these things on the list in the efforts to lift yourself up.
You might be surprised at what you come up with!
They can be action items, such as playing volleyball or dancing.
They can also be a thing, like music or healthy food.
They might even be a place you want to be in: be in water or be in nature.
Be open to whatever comes to your mind. Be creative. It’s your list.
For me, I look at it when I have my period or PMS.
I also look at it even before they start while I’m anticipating uncomfortableness and tiredness for the coming week, so that I can already let myself know that I have a few options, and remind myself to do more of what is fun for me, what excites me, what soothes and heals me!
Paying attention to your needs and spending time getting to know how to support yourself is a practice of self-love: paying attention to yourself, making yourself a priority, and taking the time to do these things that make you feel good.
Self-care is not selfish. It is the opposite of that.
When you are taken care of (by you!), when you are well-rested, joyful and loved (also by you!), you are much more likely to show up to the world happy, caring, loving, emitting positivity, ready to support and help others around you.
When you are sick, you can’t really do much, let alone taking care of others.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.
Fill your cup constantly.
Spend time with you, get to know you, and give you what you need, constantly.
Self-love is the first step to loving the world.
As we said in this post, love is not a feeling. It is a doing: an action.
So I hope you act on it today to love you fully.
With love,
S