It's almost impossible to forget Valentine's Day these days. Offers rain down on you from all sides. Many couples see the numerous discounts as a welcome opportunity to surprise their partner with a little gift. But not everyone shares this enthusiasm.
Being alone is particularly stressful for many singles on Valentine's Day. Making matters worse are the contact restrictions imposed by Corona, which are tugging on the nerves of many. But why is that so? Why are we often not enough for ourselves?
Why is it so difficult for us to be alone?
Before we look for a partner to love, we should start loving ourselves. Self-love is the basis of mental health and an essential prerequisite for overcoming problems and dealing with stressful situations.
What exactly is self-love?
Self-love means appreciating yourself as a valuable person with very special skills and characteristics and being aware of your own strengths. Another positive aspect is self-care: taking care of yourself. Only when your body and mind are healthy are you ready to transfer your care to others.
“I am just right the way I am”
People with a high level of self-acceptance often cope better with being alone because they do not perceive the time with themselves and the intensive examination of their own nature as negative.
Can you learn self-love?
This question can be answered with a clear yes. Of course, this isn't something that can be sorted out in a week. In this article we will give you some tips that you can easily integrate into your everyday life and that will help you accept yourself as you are in the long term.
Self-help thanks to yoga and meditation: 7 simple tips for your everyday life
Self-love can only come from within you and cannot be triggered by external influences. However, these tips can serve as a guide to make your everyday life more positive and help you perceive your body and its needs more actively.
1. Start every day with a smile: a meditation exercise
Meditation doesn't always have to be done sitting cross-legged. How about starting your first meditation while lying comfortably in bed instead?
- Close your eyes and begin to notice your body, your surroundings and especially your breathing movement. It is important that you just register without rating anything.
- Be aware of each body part individually. For example, you start with the left little toe and then work your way up to the forehead. Notice which areas of the body feel relaxed and which perhaps feel tense. Here too, the main thing is to feel and register without making any judgments.
- Become aware of your strength and the energy that is in your body, all of its muscles and organs. The human body does incredible things every day. Aloneness should put a smile on your face every day.
- Maybe the following mantras will help you:
I look forward to the coming day.
I'm happy that I'm well rested and my body is doing well.
I love this feeling I have right now and I'm grateful that I'm okay.
2. Spread the love
Admittedly, for many people this exercise is more suitable for everyday life post-Corona. But perhaps there is now an opportunity to spread a little positive vibes. A smile or a compliment to those around us is often enough. For example, how often do we like the item of clothing worn by the woman in front of us on the train? How about just saying these thoughts out loud? You will be amazed at the positive response. And that's not all. By saying it, the positive thought solidifies in your consciousness and contributes to a positive mood.
3. Office stretch: Give your body a break
Many of us spend much of our day sitting in a chair. Our neck cramps and when we fall exhausted on the couch in the evening, we only really become aware of our headaches. But it doesn't have to come to that.
Self-love begins with noticing feelings and signals from the body. So give yourself several short breaks of two to three minutes and listen to yourself.
Is there a point you can start immediately to improve?
For example, if your neck feels tense, rotate your shoulders and head. Stand up and stretch. If you have a headache, take a short walk.
Don't let external influences stress you out during these breaks. The sun probably won't shine as brightly after work, so take advantage of the moment and fill your fuel tanks with some vitamin D in the fresh air. The breaks are not only good for you physically, but also mentally and increase your ability to concentrate.
4. The journey inwards instead of outwards: Just let go
Stop constantly comparing yourself to others. Social media in particular contributes a lot to the fact that we perceive our bodies or our lives as less desirable. But as the saying goes: not everything that glitters is gold. So don't let other people's posts mislead you. Much of it is heavily edited and rarely reflects reality. Free yourself from this baggage, stop constantly comparing yourself with others, take an active social media break, or only follow accounts whose posts encourage you - nice quotes, or art, for example.
“As I began to love myself, I freed myself from everything that was not healthy for me, from foods, people, things, situations and everything that kept dragging me down. At first I called it “healthy egoism,” but today I know it’s SELF-LOVE.”
5. After-work yoga: Quality time for your body and soul
Take time for yourself again. Plan this time just like you would an appointment with another important person. Starting a regular yoga practice can be extremely helpful in terms of learning self-love.
Yin yoga is particularly gentle on the body because instead of flowing from one asana to the next, in this form of yoga you stay in a pose for minutes and become an observer of your own body. In this way, not only body awareness is improved, but emotional blockages are also released. You learn to accept your body's natural limitations, which is often one of the most difficult exercises.
“Everything can. Nothing has to.” – the most important motto in yoga. Don't force anything that doesn't feel good
Over time, holding the asanas for a long time and slowly sinking into them stimulates deep layers of connective and fascia tissue and loosens adhesions. You will notice how your body becomes more flexible and your muscles relax each time.
If you are still missing a suitable outfit for your yoga practice in which you feel completely comfortable and can concentrate fully on yourself, then take a look at our shop. A large selection of comfortable yoga leggings and lounge pants made of soft organic cotton or Tencel awaits you here.
6. Your Body is your Temple: a healthy dinner
Your body is a palace! He will then be your loyal companion for your whole life! Treat him like that too! It's not for nothing that the saying goes: You are what you eat.
7. End of the day: the gratitude meditation
When the day comes to an end, you have already done yourself a lot of good. Gratitude meditation is a nice way to round it all off and fall asleep with a positive thought.
Proceed in the same way as in the morning meditation from step 1. Instead of the mantras, end this exercise with the following thought process: What are you grateful for today?
These could have been gestures but also small things. For example, a good cafe in the afternoon or the sun during the lunch break. Put yourself in that moment again and let it have an impact. End every day the same way you started it: with a smile.
If you follow these 7 tips and integrate them into your everyday life on a regular basis, you will soon learn how important you can and must be to yourself.