Valentines, Hearts and Roses – full of special feelings.  It’s such a healing power to be whole and healthy…

There is nothing like feeling on top of the world – feeling focused, radiant and on fire!  Have you ever felt like you are in the zone?  Like you could do no wrong?  Magnetic and full of life?  What a way to live!  For some of us we have a few days like that in a row, for others it’s a few years and for others – it’s all the time – a very blessed life – wouldn’t you say?  A whole life that is easy, breezy – is that really possible?  Well for some it’s not a fantasy at all – but in fact describes pretty much how their lives are. For most of us, however, life brings with it challenges – and sometimes not just a few but many.  I always say – we are not handed anything we are not strong enough to handle.  So in those times when we face a little more than our share of struggle, temporary defeat or soul searching here are some Tips on How to Love Yourself no matter what’s going on.

5 Ways to Love and Support Yourself All Year Long (and not just on Valentine’s Day)!

1) Sign up for a Course – whether it’s Knitting, French Cooking, Samba, or Film Buff 101 – do something new – go for it!  It’s important to stretch your mind in other ways that just intellectually – but artistically as well.   It’s important to learn new ways of moving your body or “getting into your body”.  What I mean by that is that we live in a very sedentary world – all day long sitting at our computers, reading, TV, etc – for the most part we pretty much live in our heads and forget that our bodies are attached.  We often view our bodies as just a vehicle to get from point A to point B.  A docking station for our heads – our brains.  Here’s something perhaps daring – when was the last time you moved your hips – as in a figure 8? Go ahead try it.  How about even trying it more than once how about doing it for 5 minutes?  On a regular basis?  Try it – it feels totally liberating and you might even feel like a whole new person after doing it for awhile.  Hoola Hoop anyone?

2) Put Fun into your Calendar Every Week – I have this great tool I use on a weekly basis.  On a sheet of paper I have 8 colorful boxes drawn up taking up the whole page.  Each decorative box has a various category title like Relationships, Physical Health, Work, Family, Spiritual and Fun.  I have noticed recently that my FUN box is often the least full.  I realized that I needed to balance my life a little more and start adding things into this box – a few weeks ago I put Ice Skating in the FUN box.  Well, I put on my skates and away I went – I had a blast!  I can hardly wait to do it again. So what’s on your Weekly FUN list?

3) Pick on Your Own Size.  A Style Consultant shared with me today that most women, in particular, wear clothes that are actually TOO BIG for them.  She felt that women are just not comfortable with their bodies and want to hide.  The weird thing is the bigger the clothes the bigger you actually look and not the other way around.  I suggest you try wearing flattering clothes no matter what your size.   Take a chance and show off a little – get into the freedom of feeling beautiful and OWNING (as many an Italian Woman understands) your womanhood proudly! You will feel great using this simple, yet powerful, tip.

4) Eat less – Yes, I know this is nothing new especially coming from me.  Of course, I’m not talking about depriving yourself nor starving yourself – but actually eating less than you think you should or can get away with.  Eating enough, not like a bird or on the way to developing  any type of disordered eating but just eating enough. I know for many of you it’s easier said than done and needing expert guidance is often called for.  Learning to pay attention and checking in with your body does require a re-training.  Here are a few simple tools you can use – slow down your eating, serve yourself in the kitchen instead of at the dinner table.  Studies have shown that if you leave bowls of food on the table you tend to eat more.

5) Go to bed.  I know what I’m about to say may seem incredibly obvious but I need to stress it – when you are tired ALLOW yourself to go to bed.  It’s OK if it’s 8 p.m. or even 6 p.m. This can be a great opportunity for you to learn how to pay attention to signals your body is giving you.  Case in point – I just got back from a wonderful but intense weekend workshop. The day after I felt a little sleep deprived but I was so excited about everything I learned that weekend – I couldn’t stop trying to implement everything and by the end of the day I pushed myself to at least get a walk in before the sun went down. I really didn’t pay attention to what my body was telling me. I ended up tripping on the sidewalk and bruising my hand enough to cause pain for a few days.   Had I been really listening to my body, I might have taken a little nap and forgone any exercise until the next day.   Granted this is an example of something we have all experienced on occasion.   If, however, you are constantly feeling tired and wanting to crawl under the covers early every day something deeper or more chronic may be going on.  You may be suffering from adrenal exhaustion or even depression.  These symptoms can be remedied excellently with a healthy diet, targeted nutritional supplementation and lifestyle changes – consider these changes as your first line of therapy before ever starting on any medication.

So loving yourself can be as simple as these 5 Tips and by regularly listening to your body.  Develop the skill and awareness of checking into your body.  Ask yourself – how am I feeling? Do I need to be fed, pampered, soothed or energized?

Every Day – give yourself the tender loving care you need!