For the month of March, I’m dedicating a little bit of time each day to myself. I have been reading a lot about self-love and self-compassion and I want to put these essential concepts into real practice in my life. You could say that in 2014, I’m being intentional and in January, I practiced creativity for a little bit each day that month. I continued creating in February but focused on finding abundance within and in all things. And this month, I’m focusing on loving myself and showing myself compassion whenever possible.
I have come to realize in the past few months that the act of posting a little something everyday, if I can, here on this blog about my focus of the month has really helped me stay focused, learn a great deal, and make progress towards living a more creative, mindful, joyful life. So here goes Month 3:
Day 31:
Final day but this important work continues on!
Day 30:
As this month of self-love and compassion comes to a close, I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend some time creating collages with friends today. I decided to use my manifestation mantra from my first life coaching session earlier this month to inspire my collage journal.
Day 28 and 29:
I took two days off from posting out of self-love because I was so tired. But I enjoyed time with friends and family, sleeping in, doing laundry, and cleaning house a little. The simple things are sometimes just what we need.
Day 27:
I am grateful today for the last 27 days of focusing on self-love, because today while at the dentist, I had a traumatic flashback from my post-surgical infection. It came all of the sudden and really caught me off guard but washed over me like a veil of painful memories. I decided to go easy on myself today because of this traumatic experience and also explore ways to release these memories that no longer serve me.
Day 26:
Today I gifted myself sleeping in. I also found this neat website about taking a self-love challenge. It's called:
http://howdoiloveme.com
Day 24 and 25:
For Day 24, I celebrated girl time, first with three wonderful friends for lunch and later with my half-sister and my mom for happy hour. Today I celebrated the gift of laughter and took a class about laughter. I wrote about my experience on my weekly blog at:
Learning To Laugh At Myself
Day 22 and 23:
This weekend I remembered to be compassionate with myself during a challenging physical activity, snowshoeing up a mountain, and through sharing about my dreams, I felt my energy lift and I was then able to help others on the trip in distress.
Day 20 and 21:
My self-love practices for Day 20 and 21 included allowing time for creative expression through photographing the first day of spring, connecting with good friends, trying new things, being brave, and remembering to love and accept even my dark side or stressed self.
Day 19:
Today I decided to read some more passages from the amazing book, Beautiful You by Rosie Molinary. The subtitle of the book is "a daily guide to radical self-acceptance." One of the questions posed is about the first positive memory that you have about yourself. I had a difficult time identifying a memory from so long ago, but the first image that almost immediately popped into my mind was of a little girl exploring the abandoned forts near Port Townsend, WA, where my mother was born and where we camped a great deal during the summer when I was a little girl. I loved that magical place back then and still do to this day. The whole town of my mom's birth holds a very special place in my heart and always will. So the first memory that came to mind was of me being brave, exploring a little bit of history, enjoying the outdoors with my family and close family friends. I think that's a big deal. I've been told that I'm here to learn about fear, but I think I'm really here to learn about and share my experiences of finding my courage and being courageous. I am embracing my bravery!
Day 18:
On the day of my birth, I celebrated by accepting all the loving wishes coming to me and staying in the present moment to enjoy every minute. Here is a blog post I wrote on the morning of my birthday:
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Day 17:
A quick thought for today--finding self-love even for your stressed-out self is so important. Learning to accept all feelings we have and not fight them helps us embrace our authentic self and love our authentic self unconditionally.
Day 16:
I found this beautiful self-love prayer from Don Miguel Ruiz that I wanted to share part of here today and remember.
"...Help us to accept ourselves just the way we are, without judgment. Help us to accept our mind the way it is, with all our emotions, our hopes and dreams, our personality, our unique way of being. Help us to accept our body just the way it is, with all its beauty and perfection. Let the love we have for ourselves be so strong that we never again reject ourselves or sabotage our happiness, freedom, and love."
Day 15:
I had the privilege to experience a transformational life coaching session earlier today and I learned a great deal about the coaching process and about the power of positive thoughts. And this is how my kitty cat helped me take notes:
Day 14:
Today I practiced accepting and embracing the chaos after hearing a radio interview about the book, Embrace the Chaos by Bob Miglani this morning. The book is about accepting that we can't control everything. It's a challenging lesson but a very important one.
Day 12 and 13:
I gave myself the day off from blogging on Day 12 but took part in a very caring Epson salt soak in the morning to minimize aches and pains and feel at peace. For Day 13, I'd like to reflect on the peace I have felt this week from practicing self-love and accepting all my emotions. This could truly be one of the most important parts to leading a more peaceful life. I am very grateful for all the mentors and writers who have shared their wisdom with the world.
A new affirmation that has helped me a lot this week since hearing it from the Center for Spiritual Living last Sunday:
Day 11:
Today was my weekly wellness blog day, a tradition I began on my one year post-op anniversary last August. Writing is one of my favorite ways to express and sort my thoughts, reflect on lessons I've learned, and share with others ideas for leading more fulfilling lives.
Day 10:
Today I want to write a poem about my self-compassion journey:
Learning to love myself
Is a beautiful yet challenging task
It takes constant reminders
And steady kindness
It takes patience
Commitment
Faith
Trusting the process
And seeing myself grow
Into my authentic,
Wonderful self
Day 8 and 9:
Today I began reading a book named Beautiful You by Rosie Molinary, recommended by my inspiring friend, Angie, who created the Fun-A-Day creativity project in January as well. It has daily exercises to work on accepting ourselves and loving our bodies no matter what. Here are the first two questions I explored from the book. I am posting my thoughts as well because I want to own them completely and follow through with my intentions for radical self-acceptance.
Today was my weekly wellness blog day, a tradition I began on my one year post-op anniversary last August. Writing is one of my favorite ways to express and sort my thoughts, reflect on lessons I've learned, and share with others ideas for leading more fulfilling lives.
Day 10:
Today I want to write a poem about my self-compassion journey:
Learning to love myself
Is a beautiful yet challenging task
It takes constant reminders
And steady kindness
It takes patience
Commitment
Faith
Trusting the process
And seeing myself grow
Into my authentic,
Wonderful self
Day 8 and 9:
Today I began reading a book named Beautiful You by Rosie Molinary, recommended by my inspiring friend, Angie, who created the Fun-A-Day creativity project in January as well. It has daily exercises to work on accepting ourselves and loving our bodies no matter what. Here are the first two questions I explored from the book. I am posting my thoughts as well because I want to own them completely and follow through with my intentions for radical self-acceptance.
What are your hopes--personally and for the world--with regard to body image and beauty perception?
- I want to feel beautiful no matter what as I age and appreciate the beautiful laugh and smile lines that mark my face more and more as I get older.
- I want to appreciate and love my scar because it symbolizes strength and healing and is beautiful no matter what. I want to feel proud of her.
How can you begin to live your hopes today? Thinking about what you want most for yourself and for the world allows you to act on that information.
- Today I will begin. I begin by telling sweet things to my wrinkles and scar. I begin by affirming that I am beautiful, no matter what.
- I begin by treating myself as I would with a friend feeling embarrassed or sad about her wrinkles and scar; I would tell a friend that she is beautiful no matter what and that those lines tell a story, a story of laughter, of wisdom, of light, of strength.
Day 6 and 7:
Yesterday in an act of self-compassion, I listened to my body and my exhaustion and took the night off from blogging, but I did take a wonderful detour to one of my favorite ocean views on my way home and went for a lovely walk. Now I call that showing myself some love. :)
And today I treated myself to an inspiring and very uplifting talk at the Seattle Life Coach Training school with my dear friend, Julie. I also stayed patient and mindful while stuck in traffic by admiring the amazing clouds in the sky today and the colors as the sun began to set. Grateful for a beautiful afternoon drive to Seattle, even if it took an hour!
Day 5:
Part of being kind to myself is enjoying time for myself, so this evening I made some earrings and I think I'm actually going to keep this pair for myself. :) (But if you'd like a pair, I can make another pair!)
Day 4:
I chose to spend quality time with my maid of honor this afternoon after work at our favorite spa. I am so grateful to be able to talk about creative ideas with her and I always feel inspired after our visits. For my weekly blog today, I chose to reflect on 10 life lessons I learned last March while planning our wedding in less than 6 weeks.
10 Life Lessons From Planning My Wedding In Under 6 Weeks
Day 3:
Today I decided to put my newfound self-compassion practice to the test and treat myself to a beautiful sunset view on my way home after a long day. I also found an amazing site filled with beautiful quotes by female authors on self-compassion and I have to share it:
Women Writers Share Their Best Self-Compassion Tips
Here is a photograph I took on my mini-retreat driving home:
I found a beautiful self-love manifesto by Anne-Sophie today that I would like to share and affirm to myself throughout the month:
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| http://www.annesophie.us/manifesto/ |
Day 1:
One of the first things I bought myself to represent showing kindness towards myself was a beautiful ring I found at the Denver airport nearly 3 years ago when taking a solo trip to St. Louis for a good friend's wedding. I continue to wear this "promise" ring to remember my promise to be kind to myself and show myself unconditional love.
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