I launched the 30-day Self-Love challenge on November 5th 2013, and over a hundred people joined me on this journey of focusing on self-love at least once daily.
My personal self-love practice did not end after the 30 or 45 days the challenge lasted last year – and I’m still committed to self-love, although sometimes I need a little reminders. I created a reminder on my cell phone, and I also got a little white board magnet (seen on this post’s image) for my fridge, and wrote to myself: “I love you”.
It made sense to have a daily reminder that I’m loved, especially by me. Pretty soon, as in many things in life, I stopped reading it or paying attention to it. Until one of my sisters visited this summer, and she wrote “I love you too”. A few weeks ago, a friend spent the weekend at my house, and although she didn’t know the board's story, she also wrote “I love you too”. When I saw it I smiled, and told her who had written the previous messages. Now, my little reminder got even more special.
When I first wrote it, my intention was simply to remind myself that indeed I’m loved, and that I love myself, even with the parts of me that tends to make me feel unlovable, such as the failures, the mistakes, the bad decisions (or what it seems like bad at the time), and the imperfections.
Now, every time I look at my fridge’s door, I’m reminded of what a mentor used to say: people are drawn to those who genuinely love themselves. It feels wonderful, and I hadn’t thought of the side effect that the more self-love we practice, the more love we will receive from others, until I started witnessing it in my life.
The two written notes is a sample of what I’ve been experiencing since last year. I have also received coaching clients’ referrals without asking, a couple of great business opportunities I said yes to, new connections on social media that turned out to be very deep and supportive in many ways, and an unexpected opportunity to go to Finland, to name a few.
It is wonderful to realize that when practicing self-love with no attachment, we end up attracting more love to ourselves from other sources. How have you been experiencing your self-love practice? Have you noticed any changes in how people respond to you?
Cheers to your continuous self-love practice,
Elisa Balabram
Lara S
Elisa, I think this is wonderful and I am so glad you published it! One of the things I notice when I am practicing self-love is that my kids seem calmer and happier. When I am unhappy or agitated, they are too, but when I love myself and am kind to myself they can feel the difference and it makes a difference in their lives. Thanks for sharing and I love you too!
Elisa Balabram
Hi Lara,
Thank you! That's beautiful, thanks for sharing.
Much love,
Elisa