4 Tips to Amplify Your Self Love

Anyone remember when Bieber was all like, “You should go and love yourself?” 

This isn’t just an outdated song lyric, the dude has a point. Maybe it’s just me and my need to overcomplicate things, but there are times where concepts such as self-love, letting go, moving on, and even joy become seemingly abstract and hard to reach.Like, what does that even mean?!They seem like some fluff that the self-help world has tossed up in the air and we are all supposed to stand around with our tongues out and try to catch it like falling, disappearing snowflakes. 

But the reality is, I don’t have time to stand around and catch stuff that’s going to disappear. I have a business to run and family to take care of. 

I can’t deny that self-love is always the epicenter of our human experience, acting as the director of the movie. Self-love isn’t mysterious. Gasp. I thought it was. #Awkward 

Look, here’s the thing. I love me, but sometimes I’m not kind to me. Sometimes I joke about my love handles. Sometimes I doubt my ability to do epic stuff. Sometimes I say “good” to someone saying “hi” because I anticipated they were going to say, “how are you?” instead. Face palm. 

So, I put together a little list to help you out with the things that I’ve learned that boost my self-love up, up, and away. Considering I don’t think you want to chase the invisible, either, here’s 4 Quick Thoughts on Getting all up in the Self Love Train:

 1. Awareness.

How are you talking to yourself? Are you cracking jokes at your own expense? Would you tell your best friend she should be embarrassed over half of the grocery store parking lot watching her intensely fleeing from a bee that just wouldn’t quit? Maybe based on a true story. We become what we believe about ourselves to be true. So, decide you’re awesome and capable. Decide you kick major butt and that even Zac Efron would propose, if he ever met you. We have enough people in the world telling us that we aren’t hot shit when we know we really are, you don’t need your internal voice to add to it. Which leads me to my next point…

2. Ditch the Losers..

Some people won’t be on your team no matter how rad you are. Some people will point out the missed punctuation in your popular blog. Some people wouldn’t care about you if you went to the moon and smoked a turkey and brought it back (Moon turkey?). There are some people who are so uncomfortable in their own skin they will try to make you uncomfortable in yours. There are some people who are so hard up on perfection, they expect you to fall into that trap, too. Resist! It’s hard to not become the energy you are around. Make sure you are surrounding yourself with people who see how sparkly and top notch you are. Who would support you if you chose to wear a top hat with socks and sandals to work because it felt good to you. They just want to see you happy. There are so many people just dying to be on your team and literally billions of people in the world. So, put some snacks together and draft some quality peeps like they are Tom Brady in a Fantasy Football league. 

3. Forgiveness.

True freedom comes with forgiveness. Not just the big “I forgive you's” like when your dad went to the Bass Pro Shop and never came back or Ashley from the 3rd grade repeatedly stealing your well-packed lunch. This is outer forgiveness for the fact that the people we encounter are all trying to navigate life in ways they have found best or believe will make them feel good. Even if these ways are really, really sucky . I’m also talking some serious inner forgiveness. This is moment to moment of deciding to treat yourself with love. To forgive yourself for flipping the guy off who feels the need to get ahead 3 cars before the lane comes to a close, cutting you off in the process. Yes, even in that moment, even that guy. Forgive yourself for the mistakes you made, because what’s a little livin’ without a lotta mistakes? Forgive yourself for faulty thoughts. Forgive yourself for loving someone who couldn’t see your value. Forgive yourself for all the times and moments you procrastinated or missed an opportunity. Forgiveness is the great equalizer of negative emotions. Forgiveness does not give permission for bad behavior for you or anyone else, it’s simply the freedom to not be weighed down and tied to past moments. You always get to decide to be better and surround yourself with better. Forgiveness is gentle and pure. It gives us a chance to love ourselves, simply and gives us the grace of God. 

4. Remind yourself of who you really are and what you are made of.

Some of self-love comes from knowing yourself. See what you like or dislike. Play with new hobbies and activities. Be silly and get it wrong. Enter a class you have no business being a part of. Learn who you are in any situation. I also believe you and I are souls in a human experience. And at the core of our souls is a light that is full of love, full of gentleness and purity. That is clear and good. That is an extension of the most perfect energy. I believe that everyone has that. If you can’t believe that, go check out the new fresh, untampered with babies. They don’t think their thighs are fat. They don’t hate themselves for crying in the middle of the night and inconveniencing their parents. Anything outside of self-love are simply learned perceptions, not reality. 

So go on, Justin Bieber it up and love yo’ self. Take it moment by moment. Set your intention to be on the self love train. Amplify your awesome with a mindset and friendships to match. It’s that simple.