Take Back Valentine’s Day for Yourself
We all need to feel loved, right? Relying on someone else to buy you roses and chocolate – to appreciate you and love you – that is a tall order. What if we turned the tables and made Valentine’s Day about loving ourselves? I am encouraging you to pick out your own awesome chocolate and flowers to celebrate yourself this month.
My days in the clinic are filled with people who are struggling with health issues while balancing a myriad of work, family and community obligations. Usually there is very little time in the day to think about nurturing oneself. When I ask, “what do you do each day to relax and take care of yourself?” The most common answer is a blank stare or “bootcamp class.” This is unacceptable!!
It is time to quiet the worried, negative voice in our minds and to start intentionally having time each day where we focus on love for ourselves. To get you started, this is a short meditation that you can do before you get out of bed in the morning and before you go to sleep at night, and anytime in between when you need a quick boost.
- Close your eyes
- Take three slow deep breaths
- Take three more deep breaths: inhale “More,” exhale “Love”
- Visualize another “you” walking up to you and giving you a big warm hug
- Hold this feeling and stay there as long as you like
- Thank the other “you” for showing up
- Take three slow deep breaths
This type of loving meditation when practiced daily will start to shift your relationship with your self. It will bring more attention to the need to be nice to yourself, to take care of this person – you.
Happy Valentine’s Day to each of you, may you find your love for you this February.