People cannot achieve total wellness and excellent health without learning to appreciate themselves. Unfortunately, most people fail in this regard. That is why sad realities like abusive relationships, bullying, and suicidal tendencies abound in this world. They are all a result of low self-esteem and a lack of self love with the people involved.
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What Happens When There is a Lack of Self Love?
Every individual’s attitude and personality are determined by how much love they have for themselves. The dangerous part is that they try to compensate for that perceived lack of love from their surroundings by engaging in behaviors with varying intensities of destructiveness. Even worse, that destruction is aimed more towards themselves than the outside world.
One of the more apparent effects of low self-esteem or a lack of self love is depression. Depression usually arises when people realize that there is so much that they think they lack. They mistakenly think these perceived deficiencies are why other people do not love them as much as they want others to. Because of that, they work hard to compensate for their shortcomings but with the adverse effect of alienating others in their surroundings.
Lack of self-esteem can also give rise to behavior similar to what is called the Napoleonic complex, in which a person makes up for what they lack through aggressive behavior and an overbearing attitude. This aggressiveness is expressed in many different ways. Some people may become overly loud with their achievements, while others become assertive in attempting to dominate conversations. These are just some manifestations of the complex that arises due to a lack of positive regard towards the self.
Unfortunately, they have the unpleasant effect of making people want to dislike the other person with the Napoleonic complex. The behavior then becomes counter-productive. Instead of gaining new friends, the person successfully pushes other people away. What happens is that the person’s self-esteem continues to suffer.
What is Self Love? – Understanding Self-Love More
What is self love? Psychology Today describes it as a state in which a person’s appreciation for themselves grows with each action that achieves positive results. Such actions should also realize the person’s need for self-actualization at the physical, psychological, and spiritual levels. This means that learning self-love is only possible when individuals take the steps necessary to render their shortcomings irrelevant to the pursuit of growth while appreciating the stronger points of their personalities.
In other words, to know what self-love is, a person needs to acknowledge the weaknesses and strengths in their own unique personality and actions that will affirm these strengths. It is essential to let go of these weaknesses and attain personal growth. This can be accomplished through several methods using quotes about self-love and self-love affirmations, among others.
Suggestions for Learning to Love Oneself
The following activities should help guide people suffering from self-esteem and self-love issues towards achieving a proper appreciation of the uniqueness of their personalities, along with the quirks and perks that come with it.
#1. Look Only at the Positive Most of the Time
The first step is to wrench the mind from negative thoughts. Instead of seeing how the cup is half empty, people should learn to interpret it as half full. When an opportunity is lost, individuals should learn to see it as a means of opening another door for a better opportunity. Learn to see the light instead of the shadow that it brings.
#2. Do Not Let Negativity Have a Place in Life
Negativity is toxic. No matter how much effort a person exerts to achieve a positive mindset, anyone that allows negative people to surround them will ultimately be crippled. These energy vampires will always point out the negative aspects of any person’s life, including their own. Thus, they take away the focus on the positive that self love affirmations are supposed to achieve. Because of that, they keep people from achieving self-love and appreciation.
#3. Nurture Strengths and Downplay Weaknesses
Nurturing their strengths is a good way for people to increase their appreciation for their selves while setting weaknesses aside will keep them from thinking about what they lack. They also achieve personal happiness and satisfaction along the way as they realize they are capable of what they thought they were incapable of in the past. Self love affirmations and self love meditation help to nurture strengths and downplay weaknesses.
#4. Learn Forgiveness
A person does not have to be religious to learn the concept of forgiveness. Forgiveness means letting go of what has been weighing that person down. Forgiveness is to leave behind excess baggage that can only slow individuals down in their journey towards self-actualization and happiness.
#5. When Things Get Rough, Take a Step Back to Relax
This world is so competitive that everyone pushes themselves to their limits without even thinking about scaling things down a bit to relax. This burns people out. When pressure mounts and stress threatens to overwhelm, everyone should take a moment to sit back, relax, and do some self love meditation or read quotes about self love.
#6. Learn to Realize That Not Everything is Certain
People can become control freaks thanks to today’s stressful and competitive world. When they cannot control the situation, they start blaming and beating themselves up for a perceived mistake. The truth is no one can fully control the circumstances that lead to certain predicaments. Accepting this limitation is essential for people to acknowledge their limits and forgive themselves for any shortcomings beyond their control.
#7. Acknowledge Their Worth
Some people get into deals that are disadvantageous for them, while others blindly try to impress others in the hope that They will recognize them. Doing so actually puts these people in a bad light. If they love and appreciate their selves, they will only stick to arrangements that will honour and benefit them as a person. Reading self love quotes is a great way to acknowledge self-worth.
#8. Unwind Every Once in a While
In their pursuit of success, people forget their physical limits and do their bodies more harm than good. It is a good idea to take the opportunity to unwind every once in a while. They should go on vacation with their friends and loved ones or pick up a new hobby that will keep them busy on weekends and keep their minds exercised and challenged. While on a trip, it may be a good idea to think about what is self love and carry reminders using self love quotes.
#9. Avoid Bottling Up Emotions and Thoughts
One situation that contributes to hidden frustration is when an individual is unable to express himself or herself. This can apply to work when that person is unable to make suggestions or when someone is unable to be heard. This could apply to the home as well. People should encourage themselves to speak out and be heard or at least find ways to release pent-up emotion or energy and avoid getting themselves from getting stressed by unreleased thoughts or feelings. Using self love quotes or self love meditation often helps with dealing with these feelings.
#10. Learn Positive Visualization
Many successful individuals have cited visualization as the key to their triumphs. This means that people should always keep in mind their goals and ambitions while they work hard to achieve them. However, these visualizations should always be positive. Acknowledging these strengths and points in an individual’s personality will help to achieve the desired results.
#11. Do Not Dwell on the Past
No one has a perfect life. Everyone’s past has memories that are both good and bad. People should accept the past as what it is, and they cannot change any bad things that may have happened yesterday. It is no use dwelling too much on the past because it distracts people from their real goal, achieving self-love and personal happiness.
#12. Read Books That Can Help Guide Them in Their Journey
Literature is more than just a means to entertain people. They can also act as guidelines. People should read good self-help books or pick quotes about self love that they can use as daily motivation. Self love quotes and information on self love meditation can be easily obtained through the Internet, so there is no excuse for anyone not to pick their mottos to encourage them.
#13. Everything Should Begin When They Wake Up
The best time to make self love affirmations is when waking up. It is a good idea to be thankful for the new day instead of waking up grumbling about problems that are waiting in the office. Take things one step at a time. Those problems deserve to be addressed in the office, not at home, especially when waking up after a good night’s sleep.
Learning self love should be an ongoing exercise. Who can only expect changes after some time, but memorizing a few quotes about self love is a great way to start. Everyone should understand Who should undertake this pursuit with an eye for the long term. There is no shortcut, but taking the first step is the most important decision anyone can make towards achieving self-appreciation and high self-esteem. Most of all, it is vital that people learn not to give up even during the most difficult of times. Instead, they should keep their eyes continuously looking towards their goal of learning self-appreciation.
