Love is one of the most important things in life. People spend all their lives looking for love. While some never find it, others aren’t able to keep it. Yet others pretend to have found love simply to compensate for a lack of love. However, some walk on the ideal path by embracing themselves with self-love.

The truth is that in a world with a population of more than 7 billion, there is obviously someone out there whose interests intersect with ours in a way that can turn into love. But are we supposed to wander the whole world in the search of love? Or are we missing the whole point by looking in the wrong places?

While you cannot guarantee love from others, one thing you can surely assure yourself is self-love. Love, just like happiness, is not something to be found outside of yourself, but something to be created within, which makes self-love the most important love of all. Besides, how can you expect others to love and respect you when you cannot love and respect your own self?

Here’s a round-up of 10+ powerful steps for falling in love with yourself and breathing life into your life.

Appreciate Yourself

You’re not often surrounded by people who value you and everything you bring to their lives. In order to not let that demotivate you, you need to appreciate yourself for whatever you do. Also, remember that the people around you might feel the same way, so you can start a change by appreciating them, and one day the cycle of kindness will be complete.

 Affirmations

Affirmations possess immense power to rewire your brains into believing something to be true. While positive affirmations increase your self-esteem, negative affirmations destroy it. Similar to an exercise, positive affirmations increase the level of feel-good hormone in your brain and encourage you to build new clusters of constructive thoughts. A few affirmations that you can practice for self-love are:

-“My thoughts are powerful.”

-“I am the creator of my own destiny.”

-“I am grateful for being alive and being myself.”

-“I dwell in a state of higher vibration.”

-“I am beautiful. I am strong. I am enough.”

Meditation

If your mind is not at peace, your thoughts will be difficult to control. Peace of mind is an important tool that makes you realize that there’s more to life than external conflicts. Once you’ve mastered this essential truth, self-love will flow into your life. Meditating for half-an-hour every morning will kick start your day efficiently, increase your concentration and invoke a greater sense of calm in your mind.

Treat Your Body Like A Temple

Maintaining a healthy body by consuming all the necessary nutrients and getting proper sleep is a sign that you love yourself and possess a happy mind. Incorporate foods that are rich in antioxidants and essential vitamins. A few superfoods to consume daily are leafy green veggies, tomatoes, oats, quinoa, banana, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, avocados and dark chocolate. A healthy and an active body improves your immunity system and keeps chronic diseases at bay.

Stay Curious

This world can be considered infinite when compared to the limited lifetime of human beings. It has infinite places, languages, souls, knowledge, art, and much more to offer that is impossible to accept in one lifetime. Your soul and heart get filled with joy when introduced to something new, and happiness always encourages self-love.

Learn To Be Alone, And Not Lonely

 Learning to enjoy your own company is a crucial step for practising self-love. There are numerous activities that you can enjoy all by yourself, such as- reading a book, taking a warm water bath, cycling down the road, baking a dessert or watching the finale of your favourite series.

Set Healthy Boundaries

Self-love involves self-care, and self-care involves defining unambiguous boundaries for all aspects of our lives including both professional as well as personal spaces. You have to be clear about the boundaries that you hold, so the people around you understand them and function accordingly, whether it is a physical boundary for your workplace or an emotional boundary with a loved one. Boundaries prompt mental stability and a feeling of respect for yourself and the people around you.

Be Mindful

“Just because the eyes are open don’t think that you are awake.” –Osho

When we get up every day and brush our teeth, we’re not fully conscious, we’re only faintly aware. Mindfulness implies complete consciousness, which means that whatever activity you do, even cross or uncross your legs, you must be fully aware of that action. When you are aware, you can be in control. You can opt to stop the action if it seems irrational to you. You can even filter your thoughts, by letting only the positive thoughts proceed and killing the negative ones. Mindfulness can be a great tool to invoke self-love.

Follow Your Passion

There is always some kind of art that takes you to another level of thinking, whether it be books, music, movies, paintings, programming, anything that carries you to a zone that is difficult to come out of. It makes you realize the depths of the world and hence the depths of your own mind. It brings growth and maturity to your life which ultimately promotes self-love as you learn its importance.

Mind Your Company

You are deeply influenced by the people around you, consciously or unconsciously. It is essential that you understand how important it is to be around the right group of people who not only motivate you but also prove it by their actions. While the right company will guide you, lift you up, correct you when you’re wrong and support you throughout your journey, the wrong company will drain out your energy. Self-love gives you the power to filter the company you keep.

Push Yourself

Self-love encourages you to constantly redefine your limits. Try every day, to do more than you did the previous day. At the end of the day, you will be left with pride and confidence. Never forget, that you can always do better.

Living in a world where you are evaluated every day by outside entities, it’s naturally difficult to be able to love yourself. But without it, we fail to succeed in life. So, always remember to forgive yourself for your mistakes, since you are only human. And know that love has no limits.