“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection.” – Buddha

Have you ever heard the saying that you have to love yourself in order to be loved? It isn’t just a saying. It is a fact. However, loving yourself can be difficult.

You may feel as if you are not worthy or feel like you have made too many mistakes to ever be worthy of unconditional love. This isn’t the case at all You are worthy of love. Loving yourself unconditionally is an important first step in achieving true happiness in life. You will never be truly happy or fulfilled in life if you don’t love yourself.

Here are 10 ways you can learn to love yourself unconditionally beginning today.

1. Accept your perceived flaws and imperfections and recognize that nobody is perfect. We all have flaws and accepting those little shortcomings will help you move on from them.

2. Talk with a close friend, mentor or a counselor about old hurts that continue to hold you back. Releasing the pent up emotions will help you move on and begin to love yourself again.

3. Forgive yourself. You will make mistakes. The idea is to learn from those mistakes and strive not to make them again.

4. Avoid relationships where you are made to feel unworthy or unloved. You deserve to be loved as is. Dump the negative relationships and foster new, healthy relationships.

5. Use positive affirmations. Put a reminder in your cell phone, on your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator that you are a good person and you are deserving of love. When you are feeling low, read the messages.

6. Banish the negativity in your life. Don’t look in the mirror and point out all of your flaws. The second those thoughts creep in, banish them and reinforce your confidence by pointing out something you do like.

7. Spend some time getting to know you via meditation or self-reflection. Sit in a quiet room or go for a walk and think about everything you love in life and all that you have accomplished.

8. Set goals for yourself and make a real effort to achieve them. When you achieve a goal, big or small, you develop self-confidence that will make you love yourself more.

9. Do something good for somebody everyday. Acts of kindness will help you to feel better about yourself. You are demonstrating you are capable of love and kindness and are therefore capable of receiving the same.

10. Be kind to yourself. Eat right, exercise and avoid anything that negatively influences you. Treat yourself as you would somebody you truly loved unconditionally.

Image Source: Google images

About Alex Blackwell
Alex Blackwell is a father, husband and writer.