Increasing self love is an important theme that I keep learning over and over again. I learned about self love years ago when my first boyfriend and I broke up. I was with him for 7 years. The relationship was wonderful on so many levels, but I put all this pressure on him to love me. I never got the love I needed and wanted when growing up. In fact, I experienced being bullied for 4 years while going to a Catholic school. Plus, my family life was a mess. So when we broke up, I felt lonely and rejected. I put all my eggs in one basket and wanted this man to love me and give me all the love I needed. After we broke up, I had to deal with all the unresolved emotions of rejection and loneliness I hadn’t dealt with. I had re-experienced the unresolved pain I never healed in childhood.
I started a healing path of increasing self love and building my self confidence. I started traveling on my own to get away from the pain and started my journey. I learned how to fill my own cup with my own self respect. One thing I learned was self care. I learned to do things for myself that showed myself that I loved my body and me – no matter what. I took baths, soaked in hot springs, got frequent massages and wrote a list of qualities that I appreciated about myself.
Over the years, self care was part of my path. I become a certified massage therapist and ended up working at spa where I helped create self care rituals. I taught women’s circles and helped women connect to their feminine essence. I was a love coach who taught men and women to love themselves first, so they can attract they love they desire. Now I am a certified herbalist where I treat the whole person including herbs, practices and to help them overcome an conditions that are off balance.
Now that I am married, the importance of self love is still present. On my path, things will come up for me that are mirrored for me to transform. Part of this process is me loving myself, not making myself wrong and forgiving myself in the process.
Here are some simple steps for self love:
- Self care – take a bath or book a massage. Schedule it in a make yourself a priority.
- Loving thoughts – Appreciated yourself today with loving thoughts.
- Forgiveness – Forgive yourself for things you did the best you could.
If you are looking to deepen your self love or are looking for a partner, look within first. Also here’s a link to a complimentary 15 minute session where we can look to strengthen yourself love with herbs, body based practices and more at. https://antoinetteyarrow.com/contact/ I look forward to meeting you soon!