Improving Self love and self Esteem

 I love this and I for one am definitely starting this as a daily exercise. I am going to use this to increase my self love and appreciation too. I am changing it to 5 things I LOVE about myself. I believe this exercise may be hard for some as I remember how tough it was when I just had to stare into my eyes in the mirror daily and say: Heidi, I love you, and really mean it. I found that exercise really difficult at first.

I encourage those who are starting on the self love journey to start with the exercise of saying I love you to yourself whilst staring deeply into your own eyes in the mirror...Do this earnestly and honestly as you are only fooling yourself by doing it any other way. Say it at least 10 times daily...and like all thing we do to improve our lives and ourselves, start slowly if 10 times is just too hard.

My self love has definitely increased and I continue to work on it becoming unconditional and automatic, kinda like how we automatically criticize ourselves. I AM Working toward unconditional love for self and others, so that I may be and see the love of every soul shining back at me, as a reflection of myself and them.

I like using some of the Daily Om articles as Madisyn Taylor writes so beautifully and concise on the topics I love to share with you.

Please try this exercise with me and share how you have noticed it improving your life and self love/esteem.

A Self-Esteem Exercise ... Daily Om (Madisyn Taylor)

Having low self-esteem is a common issue -- with some introspection you can start to loosen the grip of this negative thought pattern. 

Our primary relationship in life is with ourselves. No one else goes through every experience in life with us. We are our one permanent companion, yet we are often our worst critic. To remind ourselves of our magnificence, we can do this exercise: "Five Things I Like About Myself."  

Begin by writing down at least five things that you like about yourself. This is not the time to be modest. If you are having trouble coming up with a total of five items, you know that this exercise can really benefit you. Be sure to include more than your physical attributes on your list, since our bodies are only part of who we are. If you are still struggling with what to include on your list, think of what you like about your favorite people, because these traits are probably qualities that you possess too. Another way to complete your list is to think of five things you don't like about yourself and find something about these traits that you can turn into a positive.  

Continue this process for a week, thinking of five new things you like about yourself each day. At the end of the week, read the list aloud to yourself while standing in front of a mirror. Instead of looking for flaws to fix, allow the mirror to reflect your magnificence. You may feel silly about standing in front of a mirror and reading aloud a list of your admirable attributes, but it might just bring a smile to your face and change the way you see yourself. Remember, it is when you feel the most resistant that this exercise can benefit you the most. Because we are constantly looking at the world, instead of looking at ourselves, we don't often see what's magnificent about ourselves that others do. When we take the time to experience ourselves the way we would experience someone we love and admire, we become our best companion and supporter on life's journey.

Deeper discoveries of self during my daily practice...

 I am on the verge of moving into something new, something that I feel more passionate about. I am telling you this because I made some discoveries about my emotions regarding all these shifts.

I have been practicing Naturopathic Medicine and Energy Medicine for many years now and I am continuing my Naturopathic education online and have been wondering why I feel so unmotivated to study and listen to my lectures, take my exams etc. It turns out that I am not as passionate about the whole body chemistry and nutritional aspects of health as I used to be. In life we grow and change and currently my passion is more about the energy systems, the thoughts, beliefs and emotions that impact wellbeing and health. And I have been to afraid to focus solely on that in my business. There have been some false belief systems regarding this as a successful career choice, however, my morning ritual revealed that it had a lot more to do with my fear of failure which is really more about my feelings of not being good enough.

My Master said to me “you are brilliant” and replying, “yes I am’ made me cringe a little. WOW, do I have some work to do on that. 

So, here’s all that I have discovered today.  I asked myself what am I resisting and the answer was failure And when I asked why I discovered that it is really about not being good enough and this is the underlying emotion (this impacts all and everything in my life) I kept digging into these feelings and another layer was revealed and it was a lack of trust, another huge challenge in life and in pursuit of my dreams. A lack of trust is not just about the outside world but a lack of trusting myself too, and knowing what I know, only I can fix the lack of trust in myself. Trusting that if I keep my eye on the prize...my dreams, the Universe will provide. Trusting that I will take daily action towards my dreams. It’s energy and the law of attraction. I have BIG dreams for a beautiful world filled with love and compassion. 

I heard that having big dreams means that you will face big obstacles and I have discovered that the biggest of those obstacles in ME and the lies that I have been telling myself and have believed about what I have learned or heard since childhood. It always seems so easy to believe the bad stuff about ourselves but not the good stuff. 

I keep a daily practice (not always diligently and I’m staying out of judgement here) to discover what thoughts I have that block my progress. What emotions are lying within that are sabotaging me? And throughout the day I watch myself and how I feel and my interactions with the world around me. This is the place of self discovery and the place of personal growth and expansion. Only in acknowledging our emotions and beliefs can we change them and chose something different. Sometimes we need help with that and I have many amazing practitioners/ healers and partners in health to assist when I need it. Everyone needs help sometimes and it is important to find your healing tribe.

Today I will practice self love and self validation. I will take inspired action toward my passions and I will be honest in my evaluations of who and what I am. Wayne Dyer said: “if no-one ever told you who you were, who would you be?” I am deciding/choosing to be courageous and take the steps toward living a more fulfilling life, following my passion, and facing the fears along the way. I am choosing to believe that I AM brilliant and I have something special to offer the world. And that I can help you realise that you too are brilliant and magnificent and the world earnestly needs you, through practicing my passion and sharing it with the world.

Who am I and what do I want?

 These are very powerful questions that we must answer. We must keep asking until we discover the deep truth.

We are not our gender, our jobs, our titles, our bodies or even our thoughts. We are so much more than that. We are divine energy expressed in a physical body. And it doesn't matter how much of this we know on an intellectual level. It is important to experience this truth on a cellular level and this can only be achieved through asking this question sincerely everyday and quietly waiting (or sitting in silence)for your body to respond. 

Asking what do I want is the next step and wading through the superficial answers, that are just the top layer and more an egoic response than the true desire of you soul, is key. 

Once you know who you truly are and that all are connected, you cannot live your life the same way any longer. You desire to live a heart centered life widely benefiting all.

AND this is why these questions are vital at this time. We must stop hurting each other and believing we are better than anyone else. Only in discovering our true nature will we be kinder and more compassionate with ourselves and others.  We will start creating a world and life that is empowering, enriching and all encompassing.

Find your answers by sincerely searching and finding a spiritual/soulful practice that allows you to reach deep within where all truth lies.

I personally like meditation, energy healing and balancing and have used numerous other modalities to support me on my journey of deeper self discovery and my quest for enlightenment. (EFT, Emotion Code Healing, healing touch, BodynBrain, Brain education, energy readings, past life regression etc.)