7 Days of Self Love
(AKA 7 Days of Self Care)
In recent years, I have found that how I choose to start the new year has become much more important to me than celebrating the end of the old. For 2023, I found myself with more time than usual for January and that afforded me space to consider how I might make this year a little more special.
My 2022 was a year of enormous personal growth, and that meant it was a difficult one, at times extremely painful, at times extremely lonely, at times filled with an incredible feeling of lightness and love. As I walked up my favourite hill that morning of January 1, I wondered how it would be to dedicate as much time as possible to doing things which demonstrated to myself how I value and appreciate who I have worked to be over the previous year.
As it was all about me, I focused only on solitary self-love practices. I made sure they were a focus of each day, usually doing a mix of several of the things listed over the course of each individual day. I did return to therapy practice that week, I caught up with a friend a couple of times, and I had some project work to do, but fitting in self love around that was no great challenge.
It was a wonderful practice, one I intend to retain throughout the year, as there is no need to wait until a new year to do it!
Starting off 2023 as I intend to continue, with 7 days of self love – solitary activities that I do as acts of love for myself.
Exercising the body is self-love. The human body is built for movement, and in our modern world we can often lead largely sedentary lives, neglecting the movement-based needs of our body.
My favourite solitary exercise is nature walking. Today I was specially graced by the awe-inspiring sight of two red-tailed black cockatoos, a bird I have only seen once before in the wild.
How will you give yourself the gift of self-love today through movement of your body?
Nourishing the body is self-love. Part of nourishing the body is what you choose to put in it, part is what you choose NOT to put in. New Years Eve I celebrated with kombucha rather than alcohol, as a body-happier alternative. I still drank it from a champagne glass 
I love this time of year for having extra time to prepare myself good healthy foods. Like…
- banana bread muffins, with grated zucchini, pumpkin seeds and loco love mylk chocolate chips
- spicy coated air fried oyster mushrooms
- vegan veggie quiche-patties (I made these up, I don’t know what they are)
- mushroom and spinach pizza, with almond meal base, sundried tomato, green olives, and vegan mozzarella
- some favourite summer fruits
I hope you are nourishing your body well and showing it some love 
Meditation is self love. Finding a way to quieten the mind, be it meditation, yoga, or doing art, allows space for our other ‘voices’ to speak. And what more important voice to counter the endless chatter of the mind than the voice of the soul.
I have been using YouTube resources, starting with binaural beat meditations. There are so many great channels that offer guided meditations, energy centre/chakra focused meditations, and affirmation meditations.
I use a meditation video first thing in the morning, and last thing at night, every day. When I have the time and space I will do one in the middle of the day as well. It has been very helpful during these turbulent times to give my thinking mind a rest and keep myself balanced.
How do you show yourself love by quieting the mind, and exercising the voice of your heart and soul?
Beautifying your space is self-love. I’m not strong on housework as a general rule, I don’t keep my house spotless, I don’t even pretend to try.
But the times when I choose a cleaning activity and sweep and mop a floor, clean and vacuum my rugs, or thoroughly tidy an area, I feel undeniably good within myself. Sitting and looking out over a freshly cut lawn brings me a sense of peace and fulfillment.
Whether it’s cleaning the house, tidying, clearing clutter, working in the garden or growing or keeping indoor plants, doing it with the intention of self-love can uplift your spirits.
Find a way to show yourself love by beautifying your space. No matter how small the activity, small actions can have big effects.
Exercising the mind is self love. I exercise my mind through writing, and there are two parts of writing that are the hardest: starting and finishing.
I currently have 10 blog post concepts that I have started and left in some degree of conscious stream mess. Creative thoughts move so fast, how to capture them and put them in order outside of the mind?
Writing makes the mind work in a different way, forces it to slow down and connect the dots clearly, identify what elements are really important and focus on them.
Whether it’s some form of creative writing, or writing a work document or a job application, if it’s worth starting it’s worth finishing. Even if it ends up being just for you, it does your ideas and your beautiful creativity justice.
Working in small bursts, 15 to 30 minutes at a time, can help to find motivation during the slog to finish, and make the task seem less daunting.
If there is something creative you have delayed completing, show yourself love by getting it finished.
Nourishing the mind is self love. Reading books, listening to audiobooks, podcasts, articles, attending workshops and courses… introducing new information helps your mind stretch and grow.
In a lecture in university, there was a concept discussed that was so profound I could actually feel my mind take a different shape to incorporate it. Many years have passed, yet I still remember this feeling so clearly.
I seek out material that offers new ways to think, new ways to perceive. I lean towards spiritual topics, and am currently rereading an odd little book from a Russian author, which is called Anastasia. It’s a book about love, sex, and what it means to be human.
The human mind is an incredible instrument, and leaving it to stagnate in one way of thinking doesn’t do its power justice. Show yourself some love by nourishing your mind with new concepts, new beliefs, and new ways to understand.
Indulging (a little) is self love. It’s easy in this world that expects us to give so much of ourselves, to forget that we, too, are worthy of special care and consideration.
I have a dwindling supply of amazing candles I bought from a shop in Hahndorf just outside of Adelaide. They are the best smelling candles I’ve ever smelled. I don’t save them for anything, I simply burn them when I want to smell them in my house.
I drink my fancy tea, I eat a decadent chocolate, I take myself to somewhere beautiful, I have a candlelit salt bath with aromatherapy. I do these things for no other reason than to bring myself a feeling of calm, relaxation, or joy.
What are the ways you show yourself love with something a bit ‘extra’? It doesn’t need to be anything big, as long as it is unnecessary, meaningful and feels satisfying to you.
During this week I found myself reflecting about this conscious approach of self-love that I had chosen for my first week of 2023. I reflected on how there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary that I did, but the shift in intent and awareness changed them from everyday actions into self-care.
And I noted one very important self-love activity that I omitted. REST. This one is so important I think I will need to do a dedicated blog post about it.
I also considered what it means to love the self. Love can be generally coupled with a concept of worth. Through our upbringing and the way our modern world is structured, we can come to believe that we are only worthy of love because of what we do; what we produce through labour, what we provide for others; such that when we are not producing or doing, we may not feel like we deserve love. The concept of love that is about producing and being, is also transactional and conditional.
This week, I did things for myself that felt like expressions or embodiments of love with no requirements that I needed to meet in order to receive them. It was expressive and unconditional.
What if we could see ourselves as deserving of love, expressed and embodied, simply because we exist? What if we were to take responsibility for showing ourselves this kind of love first? Can this influence the way we then love others?
Image credit: instagram/birdphotographyindia
