3. Learn to Practice Self Love

We here at ReEvolution like to think of ourselves as a more or less scientific resource that people can depend on to supply reasonable, well grounded information on fitness and holistic health.  We’re well aware that we’re in serious danger of sounding really touchy-feely when we start talking about practicing self love. Consider how important we must think this is to risk it! Self love is the most fundamental variable in emotional health and wellbeing. The major purpose of owning your past and dealing honestly with your emotions is ultimately to improve self esteem and self love. If you lack a deep emotional core of self love, nothing in life will ever really fulfill you or make you happy. Sure you’ll be able to experience joy over your successes, but this joy will invariably fade, and you’ll be left looking for the next promotion or great game or hot relationship to provide you with a temporary sense of self satisfaction.

Owning your past and dealing honestly with your emotions are critical to building deep self esteem and self love. On top of this, you actually have to practice self love every day. Get in the habit of validating and loving yourself. Not for any specific talent or accomplishment (don’t think I love myself because I am smart, or attractive, or successful) but solely for who you are. At the deepest levels, the way we feel about ourselves isn't based on anything external (apperance, acheivments, etc...). We either love ourselves unconditionally or we do not. Period.

Someone can have all of the talent, money, fame, or accolades in the world, and still entirely lack self love. This is why so many hollywood stars are sad, dysfunctional people - they lack a strong core of self esteem and self love. They get rich and famous, and think that these things will fulfil them, and when fame and fortune fail to provide them with hapiness and self satisfaction, they crash into depression and self destructive behavior. On the flip side, many people have a strong core of self love and lead happy, fulfiled, rich lives in spite of the fact that they don't have a whole lot going for them on the outside. Self love is a fundamental requirement for a happy, fulfilled life, and true self love is entirely unconditional. All of us have the power to make up our minds to love ourselves. The key is comming to see yourself as a fundamentally valid human being who is worthy of love.

Obviously this is kind of an abstract topic and, like owning your past, too complex to be dealt with in full here. But there are a few things we hope you can take away from this discussion. One simple thing you can do is to make a deep commitment to eliminating negative thinking about yourself from your life. Never berate yourself verbally, even in your own mind. In addition, actively practice self affirmation. Take a few minutes each morning and focus on feeling at peace with and happy with yourself. Not for any external reason, but simply because you are a valid, worthwhile human being. Most critically, recognize that achieving real happiness absolutely requires building a strong base of self love. There are plenty of books on this topic as well which can help you explore it further. In the end, deciding that emotional health is a priority and believing that achieving it is possible are where the journey starts. Therapy, books, and meditation can all help you make this journey. Our hope is that we inspire you to begin.