Self-Care is only a piece of our wholeness. To truly thrive and experience wellness on all levels of our consciousness, we need to stop the busy-ness of self care activity (which can turn into a laundry list of to-do items) and lift our awareness to the self-honoring practice of Self-Love.
Here I outline the three big differences between Self-Care and Self-Love and invite your awareness into loving your sweet self.
For years I was quite indulgent in my cyclical self-care practices, believing that was the best way to replenish myself. Back then I was working an average of sixty hours a week. I would wake up thinking about work, plan my day in the shower, throw back a cup of coffee and race into the office by 7:30AM for my 12 hour day. This was the loop of my life.
On the weekends, to make up for the self-depletion I imbued on myself, I would spend most of my time deploying self-care strategies in an attempt to make up for draining my energy resources and life force.
Self Love wasn’t even something that registered in my awareness.
Discovering I had breast cancer was the beginning of my journey of loving myself. To me, an obvious correlation to breast cancer is self-nurturing. The breast being the part of the body women use to nurture their children. At a deeper level, I also believe cancer is about an imbalance in the Spiritual and emotional levels. When these imbalances occur, the body suffers.
This experience caused me to reflect on the idea of self-nurturing and explore what this meant for me. I had never considered myself the nurturing type. I opted out on the kid thing and didn’t have a lot of patience for children in general. And because I’m empathic, I spent a lot of time protecting my heart and my feelings from deeply connecting with other people. Mostly because I didn’t know how to manage and regulate my feelings from what they were feeling. As a result, this protection also kept me from tuning into myself. It caused me to remain disconnected and distant. It prevented me from being anywhere near nurturing.
While this was unfolding in my consciousness, I was also aware that I was really hard on myself. I mean REALLY hard on myself. I was my own worst critic. Nothing was ever good enough and I was the first one to point out my flaws. This often came across in the form of sarcasm, putting myself down, calling out the fact that I was wrong. I was never acknowledging myself TO MYSELF for my gifts, talents and accomplishments. It was easy to point out the talents of others since I was frequently seeking outside approval from them, but that’s another post. When I really began examining what it meant to be nurturing I asked myself “what’s missing here?”
The answer was love. Self-love.
Through my journey into self, I have come to know the difference between self-care and self-love. And make no mistake, there is a vital difference. Self-love includes self-care, but self-care alone only addresses the physical. Self-love is about inclusion of the whole person – mind, body and Spirit.
Self-love is about paying attention to your intuition and trusting yourself enough to take action on it.
Self-love is letting “where you are now” be okay.
Self-love is knowing that all the answers we seek are within us.
Self-love is taking some time, every single day, to be quietly with yourself.
Self-love is taking time every single day to acknowledge the infinite part of yourself that is connected to All That Is.
Self-love is gentle discipline.
Self-love is slowing down.
Self-Love is about deeply connecting to yourself and to others.
Self-love is listening to your body’s needs.
Self-love is finding your voice and using it.
Self-love is the revelation of your authentic self as a Divine Spiritual Being and having the awareness that you are here for a reason.
Self-love is following your joy.
It is about knowing you are guided and protected and that all of life is for learning.
Self-love is believing in yourself. Self-love is standing in your truth when everyone else may be telling you that you’re crazy.
Self-love is listening to your feelings with an attitude of caring acceptance and compassion for yourself.
Self-Love is the honor, reverence and compassion respecting all of the divinity and humanness that is you.
Learn the distinctions between Self-Love and Self-Care so you can empower your authentic self and live into your fullest potential. Click https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5f77821e322e6a029c5615f8
for this free guide.
Donna Bond is a Soul-Centered catalyst for personal transformation serving as an author, speaker, transformation consultant and Spiritual life and business coach. She is an igniter of light and the author of Original Wisdom; Harness the Power of the Authentic You.
For more information visit https://donnabond.com
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