Self love – take care of yourself carefully

Taking care of yourself is an expression of care and tenderness, which is why I wanted to offer you a few exercises to develop care, love and kindness towards yourself. To be used daily, or whenever you feel that this is what you need.

1. Loving Kindness

It is an old Buddhist practice that strengthens kindness towards yourself and others. If you feel like you are not feeling well or you are losing faith in yourself, it is worth using it. How?

First, take something to write with and write down at least:

– 3 things you like about yourself,

– 3 things you are proud of, successes big and small, and

– 3 character traits that others value in you.

Then sit or lie comfortably and breathe mindfully for a few moments. Feel your breath moving through your body. Then recall all the good things you have just written down. Think about what you are proud of, what you value and like about yourself.

Now send yourself some loving kindness. Simply repeat to yourself in your mind or out loud:

– May I be healthy.

– May I be safe.

– May I be happy and joyful.

– May I love and be loved.

Now think about one or more people close to you. What do they value in you, what do you value in them?

And to these people also send heartfelt wishes in your thoughts: May you be healthy. May you be safe. May you be happy and joyful. May you love and be loved. Feel how these words full of care and positive energy penetrate your body and strengthen you.

You can also do this exercise as a meditation. My YouTube version will help you with that .

2. Bathing in nature

Nature has a great power to calm you down and improve your mood. If you feel like you lack energy, or you have so many difficult emotions that you are about to explode, treat yourself to a bath in nature.

It's not about swimming in a lake (although you can do that too), but about immersing yourself in the experiences of nature. How?

1. Go to a park, a forest, a place by the water, a meadow, or even your garden.
2. Find a place where you can lie down or sit for a moment. If you can, do it without a blanket, straight on the ground.
3. Sit down and try to experience this place with all your senses.
4. Feel the earth beneath your body. You can lean against a tree or a rock and feel the roughness of the bark or the smoothness of the stone.
5. Smell what the air smells like.
6. Hear – birds, insects, the sound of water, the rustling of leaves, the croaking of frogs. A wonderful concert!
7. Immerse yourself in this experience as in the most pleasant bath.
8. Admire the view in front of you, look at the plants and animals. Look at the sky, admire the clouds and the sun.
9. Touch the grass, the flowers, the branches, the earth. Smell it.
10. Finally, you can walk for a while or longer just like that – in a complete, sensual bath in nature.

3. Put your thoughts on paper.

When you feel like your head is full of thoughts, when you are worried or nervous, it is worth reaching for a journal (or if you don't have one, it is worth starting one) and answering a few questions.

1. Are there things you do because you have to, or because it's the right thing to do, even though you don't want to do them? Can you stop? Delegate? Change to something else?
2. What issues, people, things are worth saying no to?
3. What things, people, situations, activities make you feel joy in your heart? Write them down and plan to have one of them in your life every day.
4. What worries and stresses me out the most lately? What can I do to stop this from happening?

You can answer these questions every time you feel stress rising, you want to calm the chaos in your head. Journaling is a great method for self-reflection and self-discovery. It is also a very relaxing activity.

Taking care of yourself, your body, mind and soul, your relationships with others, with the world can become part of your daily rituals. You can start your day with meditation, go for a walk after work or school or sit on a bench and look at the sky, and end the day in the evening with a bit of reflection in your journal. Observing how your moods change can also deepen your knowledge about yourself, about how cyclicality affects you. So it is worth regularly devoting even a few minutes to taking care of your well-being and mental health.