How to Start and Sustain your Self-Love Practice
Recently, on Beyond Medicine, we were discussing how self-love begins, and how to sustain this practice. As a life coach, I’ve noticed that self-love can begin either through too many hard knocks, which force a person to snap out of their pattern and look for a better way, or through ongoing coaching, which reveals the lack of self-love.
When we arrive on our own at the realization that we don’t love ourselves, the path can be tricky and lonely, because we must look for tools to support ourselves. If we come to the realization through coaching, we already have a support system to guide us through. Our self-love course, for example, becomes useful for clients who have taken coaching for a year or more with me. The course provides a systematic exploration of the various dimensions of self-love.
Once we begin our self-love practice, we might face life events that disrupt our commitment to self. Marriage, a significant promotion at work, giving birth, or the death of a loved one can trigger us to fall off the wagon, just when we need self-love the most. It is so important to have a support system that includes those who understand and remind us of the importance of self-love.
There are also some foundational practices we can strive to maintain even during a crisis, such as meditation, alone time in nature, or listening to soothing music. While breastfeeding the baby, a new mother could listen to music; during grieving a person can cry and then meditate to restore depleted energy, and a person going through a break up can still go on a hike. These practices can sustain us if we form strong habits.
As you can see, despite all the coaching tools out there and the importance of a social support system, self-love is a function of the self. It’s an inside job. You alone must be the driving force behind your self-love practice. It begins within you, and is sustained from inside you. Once you have formed an unshakeable commitment to yourself, it becomes the solid foundation upon which you can build a career you love, relationships that thrive, and balance between growth and contentment as you live a life of passion and purpose.
Share with us your journey of self-love, and let’s learn together.
