A few years ago I realized I didn’t love myself. Here I had been doing all this “spiritual” work for so many years and suddenly I realized that the very core of it, the very essence of it, is to truly love yourself and I wasn’t doing that.

Then suddenly one day I was doing a meditation and a voice came into my head and started saying “there’s nothing wrong with you”, “there’s nothing wrong with you”. My body was vibrating and I knew that something was happening.

It wasn’t an overnight turn-around, but ever since then I have figured out how to love myself pretty much most of the time.

Here are some of the Secrets to Loving Yourself:

1) Make the decision to start loving yourself. I know that sounds simple and basic, but it’s not. Make the decision and the intention right now that no matter what, you love yourself.

2) Do a 40 day Gratitude Journal on loving yourself. If you read our newsletters, you know I’m a fan of Gratitude Journals. Make the decision that for the next 40 days you are going to get up each morning and spend just a few minutes writing down 3 things that you really, honestly like or love about yourself. And if you can add some feeling to it, all the better. Just remember to do it every day for 40 days, as this will break the old cycle.

3) Stop saying nasty things to yourself. I used to say to myself “you are so stupid”, “you are so fat”, I could go on and on. Do you do that to yourself? It’s so incredibly damaging. Stop it. Just stop it right now. When you think about it (and no matter what spiritual practice you follow, this applies), Jesus wouldn’t talk to you like that, the Buddha wouldn’t talk to you like that, your Angels and Guides wouldn’t talk to you like that, so who do you think you are to talk trash like that to yourself? You have the power to think the thoughts you want to think, just move out the negative ones and have some better ones standing by to replace them–”You’re great”, “You’re really trying hard, I like that about you”.

4) When you wake up in the morning before you get up, take few deep breaths and say “I love me” a few times. Again, even though it sounds simple, this is extraordinarily powerful.

Coming into a place of loving myself and not judging myself has had profound effects on my life. I went from size 14 to size 6 (see below). Everyone says I look younger, I feel better and I’m much kinder to the people around me. Positive energy can make an incredible difference in your life.

How do you love yourself? I’d love to hear from you.

Many Blessings,

Debra Stangl
Founder
Sedona Soul Adventures