People of the world, hear me out. We are all here trying to survive on this crazy and beautiful rock that rotates around a star. If we accomplish anything in life, let’s make sure one of those is the practice of self-love! Follow the steps below to practice a supernova type of self-love.

1. (S)mile

“The smile you give always comes back to you.”

Hindu Proverb

The above Hindu proverb is a favorite of mine. I firmly believe in the message. Even on days where it feels like you’re trekking on a neverending rock scramble, there’s always a reason to crack a smile. It could be due to a wildly inappropriate dark joke or a friendly kitty you came across. I’m confident that you can find at least one thing to turn your frown upside down. You might be feeling incredibly pissed off, emo, or whatever else. But don’t purposely try to hold back a smile. I’m only asking for one. A smile a day can help keep crappy feelings at bay. 

2. (E)levate yourself.

Elevate yourself by remembering and taking into consideration all of your greatness. Do you slay it on the dancefloor? Are you a math whiz? Do you make people laugh? Are you a talented musician? Are you a good listener? Can you rap to the entirety of Biggy’s song, Juicy? It doesn’t have to be a quality that others regard highly. It merely has to be a quality that fills your heart with content. You’re not here to live to impress others. You’re here to live your best life for you and you alone. Everyone has their own unique and redeeming qualities. If you’re struggling to think of these, do some digging to find them. Once you pinpoint these qualities, don’t forget about them. These qualities are what make you, you. 

3. (L)earn new things.

The wealth of knowledge available is almost as vast as the universe itself. Think about your interests and all the additional learning you can put toward them. Learning new things will never set you back in life, even if you don’t necessarily use all of the information gained. Your mind will always thank you for feeding it with new information and stimuli. If you’d consider some of your interests to be useless information, so be it. Have you ever watched Jeopardy? The contestants appear to be pretty intelligent, yet they know some random facts that they most likely don’t need outside of Jeopardy. Yet, they still found the material valuable enough to learn. So be a bookworm for a little bit, or do some research on the web. It’s your call in how you want to view the information. Learning new things will always be beneficial. 

4. (F)ight daily battles.

Fight the power! Fight the man bro! The key here is to never give up on whatever type of battles you come across in your daily life. You have to have a warrior type of mentality. Are you feeling depressed or anxious? Fighting your depression or anxiety is a daily battle in itself. You have to do your part every day to show up and confront it head-on. Some days it may seem that you’re losing your particular fight. That’s okay. Tomorrow is a new day. The more you show up to fight your daily battles, the stronger you will become. 

5. (L)ive in the now.

Live in the now. Try not to think about yesterday’s heartaches or unease about the future. The present moment is the most priceless gift we have. What will bring happiness to your heart at this very moment? What actions can you do today that your future self will look back and say, “damn, thank you so much for taking care of this!” Practicing living in the now can be tricky. I’m very aware. At the present moment, I’m trying to forget about a past event that’s massively messing with my current mojo. But I’ve smiled today. I’ve eaten and been creepily affectionate to my miniature schnauzer. So, I suppose things could be much worse. 

6. (O)pen up to possibilities.

Open yourself up to all the possibilities around. Don’t ever think you’re stuck. You have the power to unlock countless doors in life. Also, cultivate an open mind. You don’t always have to see eye to eye with everyone, but do be open to their differing opinions and ideas. Being open-minded can lead you to some of the most stunning places that you never imagined yourself. If you’ve been keeping yourself closed off due to fear or whatever other gross emotions, let yourself open a bit. You don’t have to try and become one of those people dancing barefoot in the rain at a festival overnight. If you’re already one of those people, I’m happy for you. Do your thing. You look great. But if not, you can take baby steps to harvest a glorious open-minded garden.

7. (V)alue your priorities and beliefs.

Value your priorities and your beliefs. You must value your priorities and beliefs like nobody’s business. Don’t ever feel like you must change to please others. Unless however, there are some kinks and you’re willing to compromise for the greater good. Your priorities and beliefs are the bread and butter of your life. They should be held with the highest regard. This is critical as part of the steps to take to practice self-love!

8. (E)nd self-limiting thoughts.

I need you to put an end to all self-limiting thoughts and behaviors immediately. Are you bullying yourself in your mind day after day? Why? How is that helping you? Would you talk to someone else the way you speak to yourself in your head? I’m going to guess that hopefully, you would not. Are you resisting change due to fear? Are you staying in your comfort zone due to self-doubt? That cute little caterpillar must turn into a sophisticated butterfly. Facing fear and change is scary. But, you never know what a land of other butterflies will have in store for you until you let go, and see where the wind takes you. Believe in yourself! Stop being your own worst nightmare, and attempt to change for the better!

Hopefully, the cringe on this one isn’t too unbearable. I wrote it a while ago when I was feeling very optimistic & caffeinated.