How to Love Yourself & Love Your Life in 8 Easy Steps

By Sierra J. Sullivan

The key to the enjoyment of life is to love yourself inside and out. Having negative feelings about yourself comes at quite a price and usually affects most important areas of your life, (life sex, relationship etc.) causing unnecessary struggle and strife.

By following the steps in this guide, you will be on your way to feeling great about who you are and be able to express yourself more fully in the world. This can cause greater happiness, more fulfilling relationships, greater job satisfaction, better connection with your family, and other life changing gifts. Remember, you cannot love another fully unless you love yourself, so you might as well start with you.

Here are 8 simple steps that will help you to begin to feel great about yourself and your life!

STEP #1: MAKE YOUR MORNING COUNT

Morning time is super precious and can have a big impact on your mindset for the rest of the day. How you create your morning can determine how you feel about yourself and your life for the entire day.

So make your morning count!

Create a morning routine that supports time to nurture yourself and bring inspiration into your day. Creating a self-care ritual is one of the best ways to connect you to yourself to ensure a great start to your day and mindset. Here are some simple things that you can add to your morning ritual to get your day started right.

• Have an inspirational / motivational quote posted right next to your bed, near your alarm so that the first thing you see when you awaken is positive.

• Take 3 deep cleansing and powerful breaths before you even get out of bed you allow the thoughts and to-do’s of the day get the better of you mind.

• Take 2-5 minutes to stretch your body.

• Read an inspirational quote or passage from a book or email.

• Do your very best to not look at your email or phone until after you have showered.

• Dance for a few minutes to one of your favorite songs.

BOTTOM LINE: Give yourself time to connect with your higher self and create a positive mind-set before diving into your day. It will make a WORLD of difference.

STEP #2: CELEBRATE THE GOOD THINGS!

It’s so easy to look at all the things we didn’t get done in a day but there are many things we DO get done that help us to move toward goals and dreams. To better help you remember and focus on what you have gotten done vs. didn’t get done, keep a “good things” list handy that you can easily review at the end of your day to help you begin to RETRAIN your mind to look for all the amazing accomplishments that you get done, EVERY DAY.

Here is a simple way that you can track your “good things”…

• Open a new document on your computer and save it as “the good things” and as you recognize your “good things” open the doc and notate them.

• Keep a tiny notebook and pen in your purse or bag and challenge yourself to come up with at least 5 things by the end of t he day. Be on the HUNT for the good things.

• Mark down each good thing on a post-it note and stick them on a wall that is visible to you all day.

Have a blast and make sure to review them all at the end of the day.

BOTTOM LINE: Make sure you honor yourself (celebrate your accomplishments) for everything good you achieve and receive each day.

STEP #3: MOVE YOUR BODY

Not using and moving your body causes your muscles and energy to get stuck and stagnant. It’s easy for negative emotions and beliefs about ourselves to linger when we sit in physical or energetic complacency. In Eastern medicine they say these negative emotions can even build up after time and create disease and more pain in your life.

Ideas for moving your body (and energy) throughout the day…

• Set a timer (cell phones work great for this) for every hour and when it goes off, GET UP from WHATEEVER you are doing and STRETCH or do a little SHAKE.

• Park your car as far away from the door of your workplace so that you guarantee a little movement and stroll before and after work (and maybe at lunch time too).

• When moving from activity to activity or meeting to meeting, make sure to “shake it off” in between just like a dog does. It’s amazing how a little release will reset you for the next item on your to do list.

• Dance often. Whenever possible (at least once a day), put on a song that gets you moving and just groove to it for as long as you can. It’s a great mood lifter and state changer. 

Get moving to feel better about your self and your body!

BOTTOM LINE: Movement = Better Flow of Energy = Less Stagnant Thoughts = More Appreciation of Self!

STEP #4: DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU THINK

Don’t believe what you think or anybody else thinks. We are all a product of our environments and subject to millions of beliefs that get taught to us or put on us throughout our life times.

It’s time to start challenging all of our thoughts, every minute of every day. Start paying attention to your thoughts. Write them down, catch them when you notice they are not serving you and begin to CHANGE them to create a better feeling life for yourself.

Quick tips on how to change your thoughts:

• When you catch yourself in a negative thought spiral, stop and say to yourself, “thank you for sharing.” Repeat as many times as needed to shift your mindset.

• Start to get curious about your thoughts. Are you hearing them in your own voice or do they sound like someone from your past? Start to discern what thoughts are yours and what thoughts you picked up along the way. This will help you to change them faster.

• Feel what is happening in your body (your emotional state) and if you find yourself experiencing a less pleasurable emotion then the culprit is your thoughts! Start to question what thought (or belief) might be triggering your emotion. Then change the thought to one that feels better. (see Step #5)

BOTTOM LINE: Your thoughts are deceptive. Be willing to challenge every single one of them.

STEP #5: FIND THE BETTER FEELING THOUGHT

You might have heard the expression, “what we think about… we bring about.” Our thoughts are the source of our happiness so in order to shift into that happiness sooner it’s up to you to find the better feeling thought as often as possible.

“If you will let your dominant intention be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life will become that ever-improving story. For by the powerful Law of Attraction—the essence of that which is like unto itself is drawn—it must be!”

--- Abraham-Hicks.com

Here’s how to practice finding the better feeling thought:

• Identify a negative thought that has keep you limited for quite some time. Write it down. Heck, write them ALL down. Next, think of an opposite and affirming thought that could replace it. Make it a thought that you can get on board with and start to “try on” for a bit.

HINT- this is a great exercise to do with a dear friend who can see you in a better light than you might at this time. Ask you friend to help you find the truer more positive statement that you can begin to shift in your mind when you catch yourself thinking the icky thoughts.

BOTTOM LINE: Changing your thoughts will change your story which will change your life!

We are what we eat and if you ever saw the movie “Super Size Me” you might even go so far as to believe that chemical laden food causes emotional instability. Food is an energy source that is scientifically proven to have an outcome on our well-being.

The best way to test yourself to see if foods are having an effect on your outlook is to commit to eating only whole foods (nothing processed or packaged) for a few days (minimally 3). See if your mood improves or if you feel more even keel.

You can also play with your sugar intake. Committee to cutting out everything that is “white” (aka- sugar) in your diet for a few days and see what that does to your personality. We tend to forget that what we eat can be incredibly impactful on our productivity, mood and outlook and sugar is one of those foods that peaks and valleys our energy and moods. How much sugar are you eating every day. You might be shocked at what you find out when you give it a little attention!

For help with this I recommend this program: www.SugarSmackdown.com

You may have heard this expression: As Within So Without! Be mindful about what you are fueling yourself with and make a commitment to explore what foods create better feelings.

Track your foods to see your moods!

BOTTOM LINE: Sometimes feeling not so great about ourselves can be fixed with a small lifestyle change. Food is a GREAT place to start.

STEP #7: CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY

Who we hang out with is who we are most vibrationally aligned with. If you hang around with people who operate at a lower vibrational level you, then by laws of nature, your energy will naturally lower to meet theirs. It’s scientific.

Think this concept like an internet connection. If two computers with different processors plug into a fast internet connection, the internet (those that are not dual bandwidth capable) will be forced to adjust its speed to the computer that has a slower processor, therefore slowing down all the computers, even the faster ones. It works the same with people so be careful who you are plugging in to.

If you are around complainers, you might find yourself complaining more. If you are around people who see lack, you may start to feel lack. If you are around people with a positive outlook, you might begin to have a more positive outlook. We are energetic beings and we easily pick up the energy of others.

Be aware of who and what you are surrounding yourself with and be mindful of how you are being affected by it. Choose wisely.

BOTTOM LINE: Find people who inspire and uplift you and spend time with them.

STEP #8: COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY

Never compare yourself to anyone else because you never know what his or her true story is.

I once heard this wise saying from a friend of mine. Ever since it has been my truest battle cry. We each have a unique beauty and contribution to this world and when we begin to compare ourselves to those around us, we diminish our own uniqueness.

“When you compare yourself to someone else, the comparison is with a snapshot of the other in the current moment. You don't see the process that led to this moment or how difficult it was to get there. But we can't see ourselves that way because we are aware of all our steps-and stumbles- along the way.” – Stuart Cohen

In fact, there is NO comparison. Because each of us has our unique experience, expression and life choices that have created our worlds there is no possible way that we can judge or quantify ourselves based on another persons journey. By comparing ourselves to others, we steal our own joy.

BOTTOM LINE: To find more joy and appreciation of self, do your best to never compare.

Congratulations on your willingness to change your life for the better by learning to love yourself. You are on your way to a new experience of life SierraJSullivan.com Page 9 of 10 © 2011 Sierra J. Sullivan and of yourself. By doing your very best to implement these 8 steps into your daily life, you will see a massive shift in how you feel about yourself and your life!

If you are a woman who would like to know more about how to learn to better love yourself, join me for my Fun, Fabulous & Feminine LIVE Weekend Experience! Learn more at www.FunFabFem.com.

Love from the inside out…

Sierra

PS- I’d love to hear your comments on this guide. So please visit my site to share comments and to find more inspirational and life changing tools and tips. www.LifeStylized.com

Sierra J. Sullivan- Feminine Empowerment Leader and Passion Coach

Sierra Sullivan is a highly accomplished creative visionary and grassroots community organizer and founder of Saratoga Women's Fest. Her work supports women in reconnecting to their feminine power so that they can be more expressive, creative and fulfilled in life, love and business. She facilitates transformational gatherings and circles for women as well as offers private coaching in the areas of authentic lifestyle, business expression, conscious marketing and relationship to self.