“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others.
You need to accept yourself.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Whether it’s your body or otherwise, I still hear people having such a hard time accepting themselves for who they are. Self-love creates self confidence and makes you feel more empowered. It has so many emotional, physical and mental health benefits and it shouldn’t be ignored. Before you can effectively love and accept others, you have to be able to accept and love yourself.
If you need to improve how you feel and have more self confidence, the following 5 tips may help you.
Move more
When you are continually sitting it can decrease the energy in your body. If you sit in front of the T.V, because that’s when you relax, it can also lead to mindless snacking on unhealthy foods. Due to a lack of movement and an overload of calories, weight gain is often the result, which can further erode self-esteem and degrade the perception you have of yourself.
If you have a job that requires a lot of sitting, make a point of getting up and moving for at least 5 minutes every hour. More is even better. When you have a lunch break, take a short walk to re-energize your mind and body.
Practice Healthy Nutrition
I personally don't like the expression “You are what you eat.” However, just to point out a fact I'm going to use it here. Just like all human beings, you have the choice to eat junk food, which is high in salt, sugar and saturated fat or to eat clean.
Eating healthier food will not only provide your body with the nutrients it needs, it will also help you to stay full longer, which can reduce the urge to eat unhealthy snacks between meals. Focus on eating fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, lean meats, whole grains, nuts and seeds to get the nutrition your body wants and needs. However, don't go to such great lengths that you start to feel deprived. Have some kind of treat every so often. I like dark chocolate so I will often have a square or maybe two every couple of days. You just don't want to treat yourself to something that is really unhealthy.
Improve the Quality Of Your Sleep
Being sleep deprived (for whatever reason) takes its toll, not only on your mind but also on your body. During sleep your body uses the time to rebuild, repair and replenish itself. If you don’t give it adequate time to do these things, you start the next day at a reduced level of energy and productivity.
If stress is keeping you from getting a good night sleep, take action to reduce it. If the cause is environmental, make changes to your mattress, bedding, room temperature, amount of light coming in or whatever it is that is keeping you from getting at least 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep.
If it's because you start thinking of everything you have to do the next day, close your eyes and start to tighten up all the muscles in your body, from your toes to the top of your head, take in 3 very deep breaths and then start slowly releasing each area, starting with your feet, each time you release a part of your body either out loud or to yourself, saying the words very slowly, say relax, relax. By the time you've relaxed each part of your body from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, you should find that your mind is quieter and you are ready to drift to sleep.
Make time for you
Sometimes you can get so busy taking care of others and making sure that your job or business is running smoothly, that you forget to take care of yourself.
Taking care of you needs to be a top priority. If you are not OK, you won't be able to help anyone else or keep your business running smoothly.
It's important that you take time for yourself every day. Engage in activities that are relaxing to you. Many people like to do yoga or meditate. Take a relaxing warm bath sprinkled with a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Add in some soft music and maybe a glass of wine and you have a recipe for relaxation.
Forgive yourself
This one often holds many people back because for whatever reason it includes feeling guilty. Perhaps there's something you may have done in your past that you still feel badly about so you are feeling guilty and self judgmental. It may not even have been your fault but for whatever reason you perceived it as so.
The only way to get past old situations is to forgive yourself and put it behind you. Otherwise the negative feelings will haunt you forever and hold you back.
The past can never be changed, so it really is fruitless to dwell on it. Use your past as a learning experience so that as you go forward you can, if necessary, make different choices. Learn from any mistakes then let them go and keep moving forward living a quality life. Forget about it and move on!
Increasing self-acceptance will allow you to be more confident and to stay healthier physically and mentally.
If you would like more information about my coaching or hypnosis programs or to set up a 30 minute complimentary no obligation phone chat with me email Hazel@HazelPalache.com.