Thursday, April 7, 2011

10B- Love Yourself

Topic 11A is Starting a Success Group.  Join me Monday to hear more!

I hope you were able to join me for 10A.  If you noticed the messages you have been sending yourself are not as positive as you like, I hope you are working on changing those messages.  You are truly special and you deserve to love yourself and your life!

Loving yourself is so much more than just giving yourself a break or being more positive towards yourself.  It is about knowing yourself, both the good and the bad.  It is about being open to change what you need to change.  It is about accepting your life journey and growing each step of the way.

Once you love yourself, you are free to love others.  You open yourself up to an acceptance that can help you through anything.  An important factor in being truly happy is to truly love who you are!  What will it take for you to love and accept yourself?

Questions:
Either journal about these topics or spend some time thinking about the answers.
- Do you love yourself?
- Why or why not?
- What needs to change for you to love "you"?
- What would it feel like to look and the mirror and say "I love you" and truly mean it?
- What would it free you from?
- What would it open you up to?

Fieldwork:
Say "I love you" to yourself each night before bed.  Make this a habit.  Take the bonus challenge and say it to yourself in the mirror too!

Quote:Agnes Repplier- It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

Enjoy the journey!
Coach Gaye

Monday, April 4, 2011

10A- Love Yourself

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out.  You know how life can get in the way sometimes!!

If you joined me last week and worked on accepting your past, the next step is to love yourself.  If you have accepted your past, this frees you to love everything the has brought you to this spot.  If the present is perfect, how can the past that brought you here be bad?  Let it go and find a way to love yourself.

How many of you can truly say "I love myself" and mean it?  Sometimes this can be so hard and it can make us pretty uncomfortable.  Why is that?

We seem to give everyone else a break and accept them for who they are, the good and the bad.  Like when we tell our kids we will love them no matter what.  What happens to this unconditional love when we look internally?  When it comes to self love and acceptance, we are oftentimes extra judgemental.  We tend to hold onto everything we do and reprocess the same situation over and over.  How many times have you been out and said or done something you regretted and then gone home and continued to think about it?  How many times can you beat yourself up for the same thing?  You deserve a break too!

When working with clients, many seem to struggle when I ask them is they can honestly say they love themselves?  They want to, but just don't know how.  It is amazing how this one thing can change your perspective and improve your life.  So much of who we are and how we act is tied to the love we have for ourself.  Our self-esteem really impacts everything we do.  If we can change this one thing, we can change anything!

Questions:
Either journal about these topics or spend some time thinking through each answer.
- Do you give yourself a hard time?
- How can you be more understanding of yourself?
- How can you cherish how special and unique you are?
- How can you love who you are?
- Do you treat yourself the same way you treat others?
- Why or why not?
- What do you love about you?
- What do you bring to those around you?
- How can you appreciate this more?
- What will it take for you to love yourself unconditionally?

Fieldwork:
Notice the thoughts you have about yourself this week.  Are they negative or positive?  What messages do you send to yourself?

Topic 10 Bonus Challenge: Say "I love you" to yourself in the mirror. Maybe try a kiss too! If you find this is hard to do, why? Work on doing this until it feels comfortable.

Enjoy the journey!
Coach Gaye