How do you know when your self-love practices are working?
/One of the keys to overall well-being is a sense of self-love. I think this is a pretty widely accepted statement. We have all heard that affirmations can help us feel more positive and that taking time each day for self-care contributes greatly to our health and happiness. And these practices, affirmations and self-care routines, are tools that we use to declare our love for ourselves.
One of the things I've often wondered, though, is... how do people know that their practices are having an impact? How do you know if it's really working?
Many years ago, I tried the exercise of looking into the mirror and saying, "I love you." And the first time I did this, I felt so ridiculous that I laughed out loud into my own face. Why did I have this reaction? Because I didn't believe it.
And do I feel that it worked at that time?
No....
I could feel within me the rejection of the words. I felt tension and dis-ease, which of course are not indicative of a positive benefit. So how do we know when it IS working?
Well, since that time many years ago, when I first looked myself in the eyes to say, "I love you", my experience has shifted and changed. I now begin and end every day with practices that nurture my entire being. And yes, one of those practices is allowing myself to rest in the deep knowing that I love me. And how do I know that my practices are working?
The way I know is that my whole body and being gently begins to relax in my own presence, in my own recognition, in my own love. My physical body relaxes into the nurturing arms of my essence, and allows the love that I am to heal whatever might have ailed me that day.
There is no tension as there was when I first said "I love you" to myself in the mirror, there is no disbelief. In fact, there is a deep understanding of truth, a resonance of "yes" and then a beautiful melting into the peace that my love brings.
How do YOU know that your practices are having the impact that you intend? I'd love to hear...