7 Powerful Self-Love Exercises – Ignite Your Inner Glow

7 Powerful Self-Love Exercises – Ignite Your Inner Glow

Radically transform your relationship with yourself with these 7 powerful self-love exercises designed to help you nurture self-worth and cultivate self-love from within. Get ready to unlock a new level of self-discovery.

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Key takeouts

• You are the most important asset that you have and the most important relationship you will ever have in this lifetime is the relationship with yourself.
• Self-love is the practice of embracing and valuing yourself fully, with kindness, compassion, and acceptance, recognizing that you are worthy and treating yourself with the care you deserve.
• Self-love forms the foundation for personal growth and personal development, empowering you to live the most authentic version of yourself and create a life aligned with your deepest dreams and desires.
• Some benefits of practising self-love exercises are improved mental and physical health, improved self-awareness, better decision-making processes, stronger and healthier relationships, living life with a deeper sense of purpose, etc.
• There are different ways how you can cultivate self-love from within. In this blog post, we will explore 7 powerful self-love exercises that help you transform your relationship with yourself and allow you to love and embrace yourself fully and create more joy and happiness in your life long-term.

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The most important relationship you will ever have in this lifetime is the relationship with yourself. But let’s be honest, most of the time, this is the hardest one 🖤.

We are raised in a society of perfectionism and from an early age we get judged by these standards. As a result, we constantly compare ourselves to these standards and the people around us.

But by doing so, there is always a lack. Subconsciously, this lack is running our lives. It guides our decision-making process and determines how we show up in this world.

However, it is not just society, we also have to keep in mind the circumstances of our upbringing, any trauma that we might have experienced in life, ancestral healing, and relationships that have left behind a feeling of not being good enough or being unworthy, etc.

All these experiences and life events move us further and further away from self-love.

Looking at my healing journey, cultivating self-love with the help of self-love exercises was key to creating more happiness and inner peace in my life.

But at the same time, I have to say that self-love is just the beginning, it is the first step along the personal development journey.

Self-love starts with saying ‘YES’ to yourself, acknowledging and understanding that you are worthy and deserving just like everyone else.

However, cultivating self-love is a life-long process. And if you are looking to create long-term joy and happiness for yourself, you have to say ‘YES’ to yourself every single day.

Self-love exercises are a great way to cultivate self-love from within and today we will be looking at 7 powerful self-love exercises, all of which you can easily incorporate into your daily routines.

Self-love meaning

Self-love is a state of being in which you can unconditionally love, value, and appreciate yourself fully for who you truly are at the essence of your being. All your strengths, weaknesses, imperfections, and flaws are included.

If you practice self-love it means that you make yourself and your well-being a priority, physically and mentally. It also implies that you treat yourself with kindness, respect and compassion.

Self-love empowers you to make choices aligned with your values, needs and desires, ultimately leading to a more balanced and joyful life.

What are the benefits of self-love?

With the help of self-love exercises, you can practise self-love daily.

The benefits of a regular self-love practice are:

• Improved mental health – as you practice self-love exercises, you develop a more positive self-image which will boost your self-esteem and self-confidence
• Improved physical health – when you love and appreciate yourself, you are likely to take better care of yourself e.g. do regular exercise, keep a healthy diet, establish regular sleeping patterns, etc.
• Improved self-awareness -self-love exercises and practices will help you develop and foster a deeper understanding of yourself e.g. your strengths, weaknesses, values, desires, etc.
• Better decision-making – self-love encourages you to make choices aligned with your core values and life goals which will support you in creating a better life for yourself
• Stronger and healthier relationships – when you love and accept yourself, you are aware of your needs and you know how to communicate them which allows you to set healthy boundaries in your relationships thus you are building true relationships that have growth potential
• Stronger sense of purpose – practising self-love exercises helps individuals to identify and pursue their passions, creating a more meaningful and purposeful life experience overall

The list continues as self-love offers numerous benefits, profoundly impacting various aspects of one’s life.

7 Powerful self-love exercises

Below are 7 powerful self-love exercises and self-love practices to help you cultivate self-love from within.

There are certainly more self-love exercises and other ways to cultivate self-love, however, these are the self-love exercises that brought and still bring the most benefits to my life. Hence I decided to focus on these for the time being.

1. Look after your physical health

If you are looking to start practising self-love, one of the first self-love exercises to set yourself up for success is to look after your physical health.

On a physical level, this means:

• regular exercise – running, yoga, signing up for some fun workout classes at the gym, joining a hiking group, etc. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, make it a regular habit
• healthy diet – nourish your body with nutritious foods that make you feel good physically and mentally; check out my Pinterest Board Healthy Recipes for inspiration to get you started
• regular sleeping pattern – establish good sleeping patterns; think about creating an evening routine and maybe even a morning routine to help you stay on track with your sleeping patterns
• stress management – ensure you have enough time for self-care activities, introduce a healthy work-life balance, set healthy boundaries for yourself, etc.

Related resources: To help you develop a healthy lifestyle, do check out my blog posts 5 Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle – Transform Your Well-being Today and 10 Healthy Lifestyle Habits for Busy Women.

2. Practice self-awareness

Every action that you take creates your reality.

And behind every action that we take is an intention, a reason ‘why’ we do or want something.

However, most of the time, we take action from autopilot mode, meaning we are not always aware of why we do something. This is due to a combination of habitual behaviour, emotional responses, overwhelm, stress, etc.

By being more aware of your actions and knowing ‘why’ you want something, your actions become more intentional.

Taking intentional action means you consciously choose how to respond before you respond. By doing so, you make sure that your actions are aligned with your values, life goals, needs and desires, etc.

In short: You take responsibility for yourself as an expression of your self-worth and self-love.

Tip: One way to start practising self-awareness can be to start a journal. Writing in a journal can help you reflect on your daily experiences, emotions, and reactions. This practice encourages introspection and self-discovery. Learn How to Start Journaling – The Ultimate Guide for Beginners.

3. Make self-care a priority

Similarly to self-love, self-care is everything you do for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

I like to think about self-care as an energetic cleanse, a full body recharge.

Being with your energy, without distraction from the outer world, allows you to deeply listen within and see clearly what you/your body need/needs at this moment in time.

By taking care of yourself and listening to your needs, you demonstrate that you value your well-being and that you recognize and appreciate your worth.

Examples of self-care exercises and self-care activities are practising gratitude, doing a journal exercise, yoga, positive affirmations, starting a morning routine, etc.

Reminder: Every minute you invest in yourself will pay off. Block the time for your self-care practices in your diary and make it happen for yourself.

4. Set healthy boundaries for yourself

Boundaries are really important as they protect our physical, mental, and energetic space.

By setting healthy boundaries in your relationships with family, friends, and love relationships as well as at the workplace, you permit yourself to prioritize your own needs, which can help to reduce stress and ease anxiety.

In addition, knowing how to practice self-love in a relationship allows you to build relationships that are true and have the potential for growth as people know what to expect from you and you know what you can expect from them.

Overall, setting healthy boundaries in relationships means that you respect yourself, value yourself and that are true to yourself.

Related resources: Empower Your Voice: How To Set Healthy Boundaries in Relationships.

5. Stop negative self-talk

Negative self-talk is the inner dialogue that we have with ourselves.

It’s the voice in our head that feeds us self-limiting beliefs such as ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I am not worthy of XYZ’, etc.

However, all these negative beliefs that we keep telling ourselves over and over again at some point turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy and shape our reality.

Negative self-talk limits us from living our true potential. Over time we lose trust in ourselves and in addition, negative self-talk can negatively impact our mental health too.

Words are so powerful, especially the ones that you speak to yourself. Be aware of how you talk to yourself and about yourself.

Related resources: 3 Empowering Shadow Work Exercises – A Journey from Dark to Light and 71 Affirmations For Self-Love – The Ultimate Path To Joy And Happiness.

6. Discover your purpose

Having a purpose means having a sense of direction and meaning in life.

Living in alignment with your purpose will make you feel more connected to yourself and the world around you. Life will feel richer and more meaningful.

Below are three tips that can help you find your purpose:

• Define your core values – Understand what principles and values guide your life. Understanding your core values can help you find a purpose that aligns with what you believe is important and meaningful.
• Identify your strengths and talents – Think about what you are naturally good at. Often, our purpose is connected to using our unique talents to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.
• Define your passions and interests – What makes you feel alive? What can you talk about for hours? Often passions are closely linked to our purpose.

Finding your purpose can be a deeply personal and transformative journey. And the more you live life in alignment with your essence the more authentic and rewarding life will feel.

7. Practice Gratitude

By consistently practising gratitude, you cultivate a more positive and loving relationship with yourself, enhancing your overall sense of self-worth and well-being.

The top 5 benefits of a regular gratitude practice are improved mental health, enhanced physical health, improved relationships, higher self-esteem and living more in the present moment.

Related resources: 44 Ultimate Daily Gratitude Journal Prompts – Unlock your Inner Joy And Happiness and 7 Mindful Gratitude Activities For Adults – A Journey To Abundance.

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As I am writing this blog post for you, two more self-love exercises came to my mind. And as we are here already, I would say let’s keep going my friends 🖤.

Self-love affirmations

Self-love affirmations are another self-love exercise that I have used over the years.

Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself daily. With time, positive affirmations or affirmations for self-love help you overcome any self-sabotaging, limiting beliefs or negative thought patterns you might have.

By harnessing the power of positive self-talk you reshape your mindset, enhance your self-perception and start to cultivate more self-love from within.

Self-love affirmations examples:

• I deserve happiness and fulfilment in all areas of my life – I am worthy.
• I forgive myself for past mistakes.
• I trust my intuition, everything I need is already within me.
• I choose to surround myself with people who uplift and support me.
• I see challenges as opportunities for growth.

If you like the idea of working with affirmations for self-love or are curious to dive deeper into the subject, I dedicated a whole blog post to affirmations for self-love.

Related resources: 71 Affirmations For Self-Love – The Ultimate Path To Joy And Happiness.

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Let Your Shadow Shine Yoga – Cultivate self-love with Yoga

Another self-love exercise is practising yoga.

I know, as a yoga teacher I am likely to be a bit biased, but my self-love journey started with yoga and yoga taught me pretty much everything I know about self-love.

Yes, yoga is a physical practice, but above all, yoga is an internal practice.

One of the biggest lessons I learned through my yoga practice is acceptance. Acceptance of who I am as a person, who I was in the past, my strengths, weaknesses, limitations and acceptance of what will be, will be.

Acceptance is fundamental for self-love as it creates a compassionate, peaceful, and authentic relationship with oneself. It enables you to see your worth, embrace your true self, and live a more fulfilling and balanced life.

There are a lot of yoga classes specifically tailored around the theme of self-love such as: ‘yoga for self-love and compassion’, ‘self-love yoga’, ‘yin yoga for self-love’, ‘yoga for self-compassion, etc. but to be honest with you, every time you step on the yoga mat you practice self-love.

If you would like to give this a try, below is a yoga flow that is suitable for all levels, yoga beginners included. Start your self-love journey today and join me on the mat.

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Self-love is the foundation of your happiness and well-being and self-love is also your driver to live and create a more purposeful life.

When you have self-love for yourself, you know that you are deserving of all your dreams and desires and you will be striving for your dreams and desires and won’t settle for anything less.

However, this is not always an easy path, it certainly wasn’t for me. And like we said earlier, self-love is a life-long process of saying ‘YES’ to yourself. Hang in there my friends 🖤, you are worth it.

I hope you enjoyed these self-love exercises and self love activities for adults and got inspired to try some of these love yourself activities and include them in your daily routines.

Make sure to keep me posted on your self-love practice and do let me know which of the exercises for self-love you tried.

As always, in case there are any questions about these self-love exercises, please feel free to leave me a comment below. It is always great to hear from you guys.

Related resources that will support your self-love exercises:

• The Importance Of Core Values in Life – A Powerful Journey From Authenticity To Happiness
• The Ultimate 7-Step Morning Routine Checklist – Rise And Shine Warrior
• 3 Empowering Shadow Work Exercises – A Journey from Dark to Light

Stay wild,

Nicolle

Featured image: Photo by Chermiti Mohamed on Unsplash