In October we celebrate Love Your Body Week. But let’s be honest: your body is something to celebrate all year! The concept of loving your body can feel challenging or even impossible sometimes. But what about focusing on showing your body some love? Acts of love towards your self can help cultivate a deeper acceptance and appreciation of your body. Here are five ways to show your body some love!
Communicate with Your Body
Start by talking to your body in a positive way. Verbalization can help ground us and can also build self-awareness. Each day, take a moment to say something nice to your body. Consider expressing gratitude, such as, “Thank you for carrying me through today.” In the moments when you can’t think of something positive, state an intention like, “Today, I will show my body love by taking a break and resting.”
Listening is another important part of communication. Listen to your body. Your body is constantly communicating with you about its needs. Your stomach growls to remind you it is time to eat. You get chill bumps when your body is telling you that it is cold. You sense unease in certain situations. These are all communications from your body. It takes practice to cultivate awareness of these communications and physical sensations, but keep practicing. Listening to and responding to your body’s communications is an act of kind and love. Reasons believes strongly in this philosophy and incorporates this approach in many of our treatment modalities.
Identify Your Self-Love Language
The Five Love Languages is a philosophy developed by Dr. Gary Chapman. Generally, this philosophy has been put into practice when navigating relationships with others. However, your primary love language is how you feel loved and valued by others. So, your love language is also your self-love language. In a blog by good and well, Dr. Christie Kederian provides great insight on how to show yourself love through your primary love language. She also provides a quiz if you need help identifying your love language.
Spark Joy
Research shows that experiencing joy garners a multitude of benefits for your body. Some of these benefits include building resilience in stressful situations, promoting heart health, and pain reduction. Be intentional about doing things that bring you joy and feed your soul. Often, the smallest of things spark joy! If you find it difficult to identify what brings you joy, try making a joy list. This blog offers some great thought starters on how to create your list. As you experience these joyful moments, you will begin to feel more self-love, and in turn this self-love sparks more joy.
Do a Self-Care Check
A self-care check can help you determine if you are meeting your everyday needs. Tools like this self-care cheat sheet can help you track and strategize to meet your self-care wellness goals. You can also conduct a self-care check with the support of a therapist, who can then provide additional support to help you meet your needs.
Prioritize Rest and Relaxation
Our bodies work hard 24-7. Show your body some love by taking a rest! Cozy up on the couch and take a break. Use your vacation time at work – whether you choose to travel or enjoy a staycation. Prioritize getting enough sleep at night. Your body needs rest and deserves it. Sufficient rest boosts things like your immune system, creativity and energy. Rest also enhances your decision-making abilities. Adequate rest helps your body return to a state of homeostasis, where your body can repair and recover.
These are just a few ways to show your body some love. What other methods work for you? Get creative and explore the avenues that work best for you and your life. If you try incorporating any of the ideas above, let us know! We’d love to hear what resonates most with you.