*** Note: This blog was written by our former Director of Marketing Preston Simmons.
Love is a binding concept that enables individuals to form and maintain close relationships throughout their lives during times of prosperity and times of hardship alike. During their Friday Focus from this past week, Jane Smith who is our Director of Public Relations and Danielle Dionne, QMED who is our Director of Mental Health talked about the power of self-love. Peace360 encourages everyone to lovingly serve those around them. What many people may forget at times, is that at times we need to focus on our own needs as well. It is easy to forget this when we are busy serving others and focusing on them. Furthermore, before we can help other people, we need to make sure we have accepted ourselves and that we are taken care of physically, mentally and emotionally. This will allow us to have the capability to assist others.
How to Accept Yourself
During their Friday Focus, Jane and Danielle talked about 3 ways to practice self-love. Jane shared one of her tactics, which is that you should be “True to yourself and [live] your truth”. We should not pretend to be someone that we are not in order to receive acceptance from others. Below are 2 ways that anyone can implement to eventually achieve self-acceptance.
- Forgive yourself
According to Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. of Psychology Today, one way to accept who you are is to develop
“self-acceptance… [by developing] more self-compassion. Only when we can… pardon ourselves for things that earlier we assumed must be all our fault can we secure the relationship to self that till now has eluded us”.
Once we develop the habit of forgiving ourselves for our own errors, either in the moment or by taking our time to evaluate our past mistakes, can we forgive ourselves. We can also make a plan to not repeat these errors. This will help us extend loving forgiveness to others more quickly, strengthen our relationships with those around us and not impede our personal progress by holding grudges.
2. Create a support system
Joyce Marter of Psych Central is a psychotherapist and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). She counsels that you should “Surround yourself with people who accept you and believe in you”. Building this support network of family friends, roommates, neighbors or other individuals will be vital to receiving reassurance regarding your insecurities. They can also remind you of your accomplishments and strengths, which will aid you in recalling their encouragement during times where you may feel tempted to criticize yourself.
How to Recharge Yourself Mentally
Jane and Danielle also talked about 3 whys of self-love. One of the concepts that they presented that is relevant to today’s blog is their first why of self-love. They said:
“When you love yourself, your relationships with your family, friends and/or significant other will be healthier”.
As stated previously, we need to care for ourselves before we can help others. Danielle communicated this idea during Friday Focus when she said that “Healed people heal people” and that “It’s hard to take care of yourself when you are stuck mentally”. Aside from avoiding multitasking and doing something you enjoy to be able to relax, Erica Cirino of Healthline suggests:
- Make a list of your accomplishments
“If you’re feeling overwhelmed, sit down and jot down a short list of your accomplishments. This can give you motivation and energy to move forward”. Even if these tasks don’t appear to be significant to you and are simple, such as “Did not think negatively about myself today” or “Cleaned the kitchen right after cooking”, recognizing these accomplishments will aid you in recognizing what good things you have done that day. You will then be empowered to complete large-scale projects or make long-term changes to your life.
- Take a break from technology
Regarding technology use, Erica continues: “Others’ lives often seem “perfect” on social media, but they rarely are. Feeling like you have to live up to a certain expectation can be draining. Put social media on pause”. Taking a break from social media to do something else that is relaxing will permit you to exercise your brain in other ways. You can obtain and hone new skills or participate in an uplifting hobby that will help you improve as a person.
Additionally, you can do an activity with someone else to establish or maintain a social connection. Using social media in moderation will show you your potential and that you can lead a more meaningful life. In the future, you will look back on your life and feel proud of how you have utilized your free time.
We hope that you found these tips useful and that you will use them to care for yourself every day. Being able to accept yourself and request the help of individuals in your life will allow you to improve as a person. By following these tips, you will be able to use your time more wisely, cultivate relationships, and find new hobbies or interests. Peace360 invites you to evaluate what you can do to better yourself and to reach out to friends or family to aid you in this endeavor. Additionally, we invite you to connect with other people that you can support in their journey of self-improvement.
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This Friday, February 19th at 9:00 am (Pacific Time), our Friday Focus on Facebook Live will be about ways to develop good habits and break bad habits. We hope to see you there! Click on the links below to follow us on social media!
Facebook: Peace360 Initiative
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