Spiritual Practices

Loving Yourself

Spiritual Practice: Every day acknowledge yourself for the helpful things you did for yourself and others, and for your spiritual thoughts and actions—no matter how small. Remember, if you're not finding anything, you're selling yourself short.

Spiritual Practice: Look in the mirror, gazing in your eyes for several minutes. Tell yourself, “I love you," over and over. Realize it's God's love for you that enables you to love yourself.

Spiritual Practice: If you want to feel God's love, make sure you love yourself. If you don't love yourself, it's because of a belief—conscious or unconscious—that you're unlovable. With that belief, how can you feel God's love? Repeat this affirmation throughout the day: “God loves me unconditionally, therefore I am lovable. I love myself unconditionally."

Spiritual Practice: Reason this way: “If God stopped loving me, God would stop giving me constant attention. If God stopped giving me attention, I would cease to exist. I exist, therefore God loves me. Because God loves me, I love myself. I am worthy of God's love; I am worthy of my own love."

Spiritual Practice: Focus on what you want—physically, mentally, spiritually—not on what you don't want. Constantly making that shift from what you don't want to what you do want, and feeling the joy of visualizing what you want, will help you feel good about yourself and be less likely to dwell on unloving feelings about yourself.

Spiritual Practice: Be aware of when you make a mistake and what the voice in your head says. Sometimes it might even be vocalized: “You idiot! You never do anything right." “I'm stupid." “I'm not good enough." Whose voice is that? A parent? A sibling? A teacher? Now turn your mind to your good qualities and abilities and affirm the truth.

Spiritual Practice: Pay attention to how you treat yourself. Sometimes people treat their friends and neighbors, and even strangers, better than they treat themselves. Sometimes, instead of the admonition to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you," what needs to be focused on is treating yourself with the same respect and caring you give to others. Instead of beating yourself up, look for and acknowledge yourself for your accomplishments and noble characteristics. You'll end up manifesting more of what you focus on.

Spiritual Practice: When deciding what to do next during the day or in your life, ask yourself, “What's best for me right now?" Make your decision based on love and integrity rather than fear or self-judgment.

Spiritual Practice: Create a short mission statement for yourself and live your life in integrity with that mission. Here's an example: “My mission is to create joy for myself and others by allowing myself to be powerful." After deciding your mission, live your life with it in mind. Base your decisions on it. Ask yourself on occasion, “Am I living in integrity with my mission?" As you grow, it might be appropriate to change your mission. In living your mission, your self-respect and self-love will increase.