How are you feeling? If you’re in need of some self love exercises, you’ve come to the right place.
We have an entire list of science-backed strategies for feeling better about yourself, your life, and your place in this world.
Here are just a few self-esteem activities to live your most positive life!
What Is a Self Love Exercise?
Self-love exercises are practical ways to boost your physical and psychological well-being.
In general, they are activities based on things like positivity, gratitude, optimism, and empowerment.
Not only can they offer positive reinforcement for good thoughts, but they can also help you reflect on (and regulate) the more negative ones. In this way, they’re fantastic for building a healthy emotional profile as a whole.
10 Self Love Exercises to Encourage a Healthy View of Yourself
1. Practice Affirmations in the Mirror
Affirmations are one of the easiest ways to practice positivity in your everyday life. They’re quick, simple, easy to do, and ready to be customized for whatever challenge that you’re facing.
In the morning, for example, you might empower yourself with affirmations to help you seize the day:
- I am in charge of my life.
- I am getting closer to achieving my goals every day.
- I am going to make good things happen today.
Before a big presentation at work, you might pump yourself up or calm yourself down with affirmations geared towards the desired mindset:
- I am in control of this moment.
- I am filled with focus, confidence, and poise.
As you wind down for the evening, you might forgive yourself for the day’s mistakes or remind yourself of the immense potential of the future:
- I am soldiering on no matter what.
- I am loved, loving, and lovable.
- I am in the process of becoming the best version of myself.
2. Build Self Esteem by Honoring Boundaries
Self-love is self-care, and self-care often involves setting, enforcing, and honoring boundaries.
These might be walls that you’ve placed between yourself and others for your own mental health. On the flip side, they might be distances that someone else in your life has asked you to respect.
It isn’t always easy to navigate boundaries.
However, it’s important to recognize that boundaries aren’t a negative thing! They’re part of recognizing your worth, prioritizing your time, and taking care of yourself.
Practice creating and implementing boundaries in your life. Once you get the hang of it, you might be surprised to realize how naturally it boosts your confidence.
3. Use Self-Discovery Journal Prompts
Journaling is an excellent way to stay in touch with your emotions. It can help you document the positive, work through the negative, and reach greater levels of self-reflection as a whole.
If you don’t know where to start with a journal, consider investing in one with prompts. It’s exactly what it sounds like- questions or exercises designed to get you thinking.
Here are a few examples of prompts for a self-discovery journal:
- My current emotional state is _________.
- Today, I felt happiest when _________.
- I want people to describe me as _______ and _______.
4. Write “Open When” Letters to Yourself
Do you have big plans for the future? Do you believe in the power of positive thinking? If so, you might benefit from writing open when letters to your future self.
They can be opened at any time, including a certain age, event, or milestone. A short-term letter might be labeled “open when you’ve lost 10 pounds.”
A long-term letter might be something like “open when you get married” or “open when you’ve become a partner at the firm.”
The date doesn’t matter. What matters is that your letter is a thoughtful, self-reflective note that promotes positivity and motivates you to celebrate yourself and to press forward.
5. Create a Gratitude List
Gratitude is more than just a feeling. It’s a habit that must be cultivated to achieve true contentment in life.
How do you foster gratitude? The easiest way is to make a gratitude list. You can refresh it as needed, and it can cover big things, little things, and everything in between.
Was your coffee delivered extra hot? That’s a reason to be grateful. Did your kids make it home safely for dinner? That’s a reason to praise God!
Even if you’re in a period of stress, there’s always something to be thankful for, and a gratitude list keeps you aware of that fact.
6. Celebrate Your Success with an Accomplishment Board
An accomplishment board is like a vision board, but instead of looking forward, it looks back. It’s your own personal cheerleading squad for everything that you’ve done or achieved.
Like other self-care exercises, it can be customized depending on your mood and mindset.
For example, you might like something understated that can be hung in your office to show off your certifications.
On the other hand, you might prefer something loud, colorful, and covered in ribbons that can be tacked next to your bedroom mirror.
Another idea is to create an interactive accomplishment board. This is one that doubles as a progress tracker for your goals.
You can pin, shade, or color things in as you go, creating a trail of accomplishments as you hit mile markers and make your way to your ultimate dream.
7. Make a Positivity Jar
Also called a happiness jar or an encouragement jar, a positivity jar is “good vibes only” turned into a home decoration. You can fill it with any number of items, including:
- Inspirational quotes
- Compliments that you’ve received
- Mementos of fun times, like movie or ticket stubs
- Affirmations or mantras
- Love notes
- Photos
- Happy memories
For extra pizzazz, record your notes on colorful post-its or little scrolls tied with string. It’ll look cute and serve as a ready dose of positivity whenever you need it most!
8. Throw Your Mistakes Away
An important part of self-love is realizing that you aren’t perfect. You’re going to make mistakes, have bad days, and experience moments of doubt or failure.
The key to becoming mentally strong and fearless is to realize that they’re only temporary.
The bad times don’t have to define you. As the wise philosopher Taylor Swift once said, you just have to “shake it off, shake it off.”
To help you overcome your negative emotions, try throwing them away. Literally, write them down, and then destroy or cast them aside.
9. Take the Love Language Quiz
You might be familiar with the five love languages:
- Words of affirmation
- Quality time
- Physical touch
- Acts of service
- Receiving gifts
These are commonly understood to be a tool for successful relationships. However, you can also utilize them to improve your relationship with yourself.
If your love language is “quality time,” for example, you might benefit from taking some personal time away from the demands of work, school, or family.
If you go for “words of affirmation,” that’s your cue to start saying mantras and motivational quotes in the mirror.
Take the love language quiz and see how you conceptualize the act of love. Then, use that knowledge to take better care of yourself and others.
10. Interrogate Yourself
There’s a reason why “know thyself” is one of the most powerful maxims of all time. It’s right up there with sayings like “to thine own self be true.”
Ask yourself…
- Who are you?
- What do you value?
- What kind of life do you want to live?
- What will satisfy you physically, emotionally, socially, or psychologically?
- What do you want to do with this time that you’re on Earth?
It’s easier said than done, of course, to figure out the answers to these questions. Another route you can take is to use “how well do you know me” questions on yourself.
Once you figure out what makes you tick, you’ll be one step closer to achieving long-term peace and prosperity.
Ways to Carve Out Time for Self Love Exercises
We don’t always get the time that we need for self-care. Fortunately, there are strategies that you can use to make time for a little TLC.
Multitask.
- Do your journaling over your morning cup of coffee
- Create gratitude lists or notes for your positivity jar on lunch breaks
- Say your affirmations while you’re folding laundry
Establish a routine. Maybe you’ll meditate in the mornings. Maybe you’ll go jogging on the weekends or schedule a spa visit once per month.
Whatever it is, incorporate it into your routine—like a Self-Care Sunday—so that it becomes part of your schedule, rather than an indulgence that can be skipped.
Make it a priority. Last but not least, make self-care a necessity in your life. Make it like going to the bathroom or taking a shower. You wouldn’t say “I don’t have time to brush my teeth,” so don’t say “I don’t have time to update my achievement board.” When it’s important, you get it done.
I hope you take these self love exercises to heart, and make.them.happen!
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