A ritual is something you do continuously as a habit. Self-love is any expression or act of care, respect, and responsibility you show towards yourself.
It is important to show love to our loved ones and other people, but self-love is even more important as it is the basis for our achievements, our vitality, and how we show love to other people.
Love in general has immense benefits for your health, quality of life and interpersonal relationships. But self-love is more important and beneficial because you don’t need anyone else to love yourself.
Many people allow their experiences with other people to affect how much self-love they have for themselves. This makes them take harmful actions against their own lives.
On the contrary, self-love rituals are beneficial actions towards yourself that express love, care and respect to your own self. Here are eleven self-love habits or rituals and how they can improve your quality of life.
11 Self-love Rituals and Their Benefits
Self-love rituals are a way of routinely feeding yourself with the right ingredients for health, vitality, and full performance.
Showing self-love is a way of telling yourself that you deserve to be loved. And not only does it help your mind and psyche, but self-love also benefits you in ways you could never imagine.
Here are some self-love rituals you should start engaging in today in order to live your life to its fullest.
1. Make it a habit to appreciate yourself
Many people do not appreciate themselves enough. Instead, they take sides with toxic people who constantly make efforts to make them reduce their self-worth. Self-love teaches you to be kind to yourself. Appreciate yourself and your efforts, and make it a habit to appreciate yourself.
It is no news that you might not perform to your satisfaction all the time, but make it a habit to count your blessings and remember your small wins. That will give you constant momentum to propel your forward.
Every once in a while, grab a journal and write down the things you have accomplished. It could be as small as being able to finish a book you planned to finish, but this act goes a long way to motivate you to do more.
Don’t wait for others to appreciate you first, show self-love by appreciating yourself.
2. Self-forgiveness
Does it sound strange that people do not forgive themselves enough? You may personally remember occasions when you overflow yourself for things you didn’t do right, or for mistakes you made.
Self-love teaches you to forgive yourself as much as you forgive others. How can you forgive others if you don’t first forgive yourself, many of us are guilty of this.
Each time you do not meet up to your own standards and expectations, take a brief moment to reflect on your mistakes and thereafter, move on as quickly as possible. As a rule, never let any negative feeling of disappointment in yourself extend beyond any single day.
3. Self-acceptance
Self-acceptance is a self-love routine you should never stop doing it. Accept yourself every second, minute, or every single day that passes.
People worry about their looks, their abilities, and their self-worth, and often get depressed that they are just “not enough”. This is often because they measure up against other people who are totally different from them.
The pillar of self-acceptance is not living up to other people’s standards of life. It is making yourself the standard to follow because you are constantly looking at your perfect self and what you are capable of becoming.
Self-acceptance is something you must constantly engage in. Love yourself and accept who you are, irrespective of your physical looks, qualifications, and accomplishments. This would empower you to develop yourself and improve your quality of life.
4. Self-care
Self-care involves all methods of taking care of your body, mind and soul. Make it a routine to consciously do things that nurture you in totality.
Some self-care routines you can practice include the following:
- Have a bedtime routine: Sleep at a routine time and get adequate sleep every night.
- Eat healthily: Instead of junk foods, starving yourself, or eating too much, eat healthy food containing balanced amounts of all six classes of nutrients.
- Organize your environment: Ensuring that you have a healthful and sanitary living environment not only keeps you happy but also keeps you away from diseases and infections.
- Lead a healthy lifestyle: Smoking, excessive alcohol, and promiscuity are examples of unhealthy lifestyle choices you should desist from.
- Drink enough water daily: As simple as it may sound, drinking water adequately and regularly throughout the day helps improve your circulation, keep your skin and mucous membranes from drying out, and helps the kidney to perform its functions without fail.
- Regular exercises, minimizing time on social media, etc.
There are a bunch of self-care activities you can routinely engage in to improve your quality of life. The above list is not exhaustive, but I am pretty sure you got the idea of self-care as a way of showing self-love.
5. Self-motivation
Do you know that one’s quality of life decreases by a lot when one is not motivated? Life suddenly feels like it is falling heavily on you, and you don’t know what to do.
Self-motivation is a self-care ritual you should adopt because it builds up your physical and mental energy. Self-motivation involves telling yourself things like “I can do it”, or “I can achieve all I put my mind to” because, indeed, you can.
Motivation is something everyone wants but not everyone gets. We all need someone to motivate us when we feel down, don’t we? However, if no one would motivate you, you must learn to motivate yourself.
Self-forgiveness, self-appreciation, self-care, and self-acceptance are some common ways you can motivate yourself every moment of the day. Practising daily affirmation and optimism can motivate you to succeed.
6. Self-respect
The principle tenets of self-love and why it is extremely important are based on the idea that you can’t give to others what you don’t first give to yourself. Self-respect is an aspect that allows you to value yourself and believe in your self-worth.
You are powerful, worthy of greatness, and respectable, and you need to be treated as such. When others try to over-inflate their ego above yours, respect yourself enough to not allow them to get to you.
Self-respect allows you to overcome intimidation. It also allows you to know to define your social and cultural boundaries. When you tell yourself that you are respectable, you would naturally hold yourself accountable for your actions. This also has a way of improving your life in general.
7. Choose happiness
Happiness, they say, is a choice. You can choose to be happy or choose to allow life’s circumstances to steal your joy away.
Choosing to be happy always is one of the best self-love rituals that can enhance your quality of life. It protects your physical/biological health as your body produces the right hormones necessary for well-being. It enhances your mental health, preventing unnecessary emotional conditions like depression or anxiety.
Despite what you have been going through lately, tell yourself to choose happiness and consciously engage in activities and routines to make you happy. Do the things that make you happy. Don’t let anything or anyone make you feel otherwise.
8. Give yourself special treats
Life is a rat race: we are always busy with activities to get frivolities, and in the end, we forget the most important things. Giving yourself special treats is a way of focusing on the important things in life; yourself, your family, and other people, these are what make life worth the struggle.
9. Avoid unhealthy self-comparison
Things like “She is better than me”, or “I am better than him”, are unhealthy and unnecessary comparisons that can negatively impact your personal development and achievement. You should constantly avoid opportunities to compare yourself unhealthily to other people.
When you negatively compare yourself to other people, you feel less of yourself and this can affect how much you can achieve. On the other hand, when you feel you are better than other people, it also limits how much you can achieve and how much people would be willing to help you achieve your goals.
Instead of comparing yourself to other people that way, look into people’s lives to see what you can pick from them to improve your own life. As much as possible, do this without strife, hatred, and prejudice. This way, you would be happier, better, and bigger with each passing day.
10. Rest often when you are tired
Adequate rest and sleep are some of the best ways you can recharge your body when you are exhausted. They help prevent physical or emotional breakdown or burnout.
You are not a mechanical device, but even if you were, people take time to recharge and service their machines too. Resting often is a self-love ritual that could skyrocket your productivity and build your resilience throughout life, not to talk of other health benefits of sleep and rest.
11. Get rid of negative thoughts
While there are many self-love rituals that can improve your life, I’d like to stop with this one. Getting rid of negative thoughts is a self-cleansing act that can point your life in the right direction.
Negative thoughts come in the form of hatred, jealousy, strife, or malice against someone who may have offended you. It could also come in the form of your beliefs about yourself based on what you’ve heard other people say about you.
Any thought that will take away your energy, or hurt you or anyone else is a negative thought. As an important self-love ritual, you need to routinely sanitize your mind from negative thoughts.
Benefits of self-love rituals to your life
Self-love rituals have many benefits for you. Here are some benefits of the self-love rituals in this post.
1. They improve your physical and mental health
When you adhere to those self-love rituals, they improve your physical and mental health. They help you to be at peace with yourself and be contented with what you have while pursuing your goals. The self-love rituals also help you make good health choices that benefit your physical health.
2. You find true happiness
The more you love yourself, the happier you become. Self-love takes you into a dimension where you begin to see beyond just the physical. Everyday occurrences do not dictate your happiness anymore, rather, you are focused on keeping your happiness despite your experiences.
3. Improves interpersonal relationships
The love you show yourself is the love you show others. You can’t give what you don’t have. Self-love rituals help you to express more kindness to yourself and other people, thus enhancing the quality of your interpersonal relationships.
4. Improves your self-esteem
When you routinely show love to yourself, you constantly fall in love with yourself. This helps your self-esteem as you are able to see your inner potential and value, even when others try to trample on you.
5. Build emotional connections
Love is a psychic experience that cannot be fully explained by simple analogies. Love builds connections even when there is no physical contact. When you show self-love, it creates strong connections with those that love you. The outcome of your happiness can also spread to those you love, further consolidating emotional bonds with them.
6. Increased resilience and motivation through life
Self-love routines constantly remind you of your unlimited capabilities. Self-motivation tells you that you can do anything you put your mind to do, and nobody can stop you. Self-appreciation motivates you to do bigger things.
In the end, we all realise the importance of self-love and how it benefits our lives. While love is a necessary ingredient for our vitality and health in this world, you don’t necessarily need anyone before you receive love. You simply make self-love a routine and others naturally follow suit.
