Personal Wellness: The Practice of Self-Love
The essence of personal wellness involves six areas of focus that led to overall health. Health is the absence of disease or illness. Wellness is a mindset involving physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, social, and spiritual well-being. It is the practice of self-love! Investing time in self-love starts by exploring which areas of wellness require more attention and growth.
My foundation for love goes back to childhood and my upbringing in my faith. Generational guidance to accepting the love of my Creator, which defines my self-worth. Giving and receiving love is one of the biggest challenges we face as humans. It is why scripture tells us that the most important commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Loving self IS the challenge as we navigate a broken world filled with scars and disappointments. No matter where your spiritual foundation lies, this is a universal truth, rooted in our early development. We learn how to give and receive love and build our walls and conditions on who is worthy and why. We cannot love others well if we do not spend time healing our own wounds.
What does it look like to love yourself well? I go back to a saying my oldest son would throw out every time I would ask “Son, what are you doing?” His response was, “My best!” By focusing on doing your best in the moment, you shift the daily negative self-talk to positive personal feedback. Mindful behaviors and daily reflection lead to building a foundation of self-love. Every day is a clean slate to practice doing your best. Perfection is not the goal, instead, it is growing and learning while appreciating those moments.
The final piece for personal wellness goes back to finding the areas of personal growth requiring attention to detail. Look at the list again, physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, social, and spiritual well-being. Which area requires your attention today? Listening to what your body, mind, and spirit tell you on any given day answers this question. You are worthy of the effort and the payoff can be life changing.
This month’s social media topic revolves around personal health and wellness goals. You can follow my posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for helpful tips related to exercise, nutrition, sleep strategies, and stress management.