If you're like me, you've struggled with self-worth, self-esteem, AND self-love. All of these are intertwined... and I'll explain why.
Step 1: Understanding Self-Worth
In order to love ourselves, we must feel worthy of love... hence the need to understand self-worth.
Self-Worth is a subjective construct. That means it's different for each of us. But the formula is not.
You value certain things in life. Maybe it's money or fame or being a good person. But based on your values, you determine who you think you should be and how you think you should act (we call this the "ideal self").
The more you emulate your "ideal self," the more Self-Worth will be.
Step 2: Understanding Self-Love
Love is a force. Like electricity, it's something that we produce within ourselves continuously. If you struggle with self-love, it's because of one of two things.
you don't feel worthy of love (and are blocking yourself from receiving it)
you don't have a lot of love to give (because you are carrying anger/hate/jealousy etc.)
If you choose to make a change, you will need to work on one, or ideally both, parts of this equation.
Improving self-worth can be done by :
Choose to feel slightly better about yourself each and every day. Your brain allows for some wiggle room when calculating self-worth. By influencing your feelings (using your imagination and will), you can train your brain to change how it perceives itself... and, over time, increase your feelings of worthiness.
Increasing love can be done by :
Practice Metta meditation. Metta meditation, also known as loving-kindness meditation, is the act of expressing love and compassion towards something. This can be directed towards the self and others. As you practice, your ability to love will increase. More love = more love that is ultimately directed towards the self.
Both of these skills work in tandem. As your self-worth increases, the amount of love you allow yourself to feel will also increase. As your ability to love improves, the "quantity" of love you produce will expand, and again, more love will be directed towards yourself.
*This article was adapted from a post by Hayden*
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