by Gladys Diaz

There are days when I realize that I’m not being very loving to myself.  Sometimes that can mean I’m not taking time to practice self-care, and, more often, it’s in the form of negative self-talk.  For someone who has committed her life to bringing love into the hearts and lives of women, I can be pretty brutal in the way that I speak to myself.  I’ve been doing some personal development sessions with a friend of mine, and the last session we did had to do with how unforgiving we can be to ourselves.  And I see how, although I am usually a very compassionate, forgiving, and accepting person with others, I hold myself to almost unreachable standards, and I can be really hard on myself when I don’t meet those standards.

So, rather than giving myself a further “lashing” by making myself “bad and wrong” for not being more loving with myself, I decided to take a few moments and just write down a few affirmations that I can post on the wall right behind my computer screen (I call it my “Inspiration Wall,” because I have positive quotes, sayings, and the pictures of the people I love most on the wall (of course, my amazing husband’s picture is right in the center of the wall!).

Here are a few of the affirmations I wrote:

I am beautiful, inside and out, and deserving of love, especially my own.

I am intelligent, creative, and inspiring.

I am divine, blessed, and anointed by God.

I am generous, patient, compassionate, and forgiving.

I attract love, joy, peace, and abundance simply because of who I am.

I deserve rest, fun, and pleasure.

I am receptive, gracious, and grateful.

The love I give flows from me, because I am a source of love in this world.

I am the embodiment of love, grace, wisdom, and power.

I am growing, becoming, and evolving into the best version of myself.

A couple of things happened as I wrote down the statements. At times, I hesitated and wanted to revise what I wrote, because it felt like “too much.”  I don’t want to come across as vain or full of myself.  And then I thought, “Wait!  I am full of my Self!  And this is who I am!”  So, I let go of the inner-critic and just allowed the thoughts to flow.  And, as I read them aloud to myself, I was moved. Because, even when I’m procrastinating, even when I don’t honor my word, even when I allow unloving words to escape my lips, the essence of who I am is love, grace, and compassion.  And this is only true because I say so.

I’m making a promise to myself to read these affirmations to myself at least once a day.  I know that the love I want to see in the world begins with me, and that comes from how I speak to myself.  I can’t draw from an empty well!

What about you?  What are you telling yourself?  Are there affirmations you say or want to begin saying to yourself?  If so, please share them below and click the box to be notified of comments on this post so that you can read other women’s affirmations and we can encourage one another on this self-love journey!

Photo credit: jessamyn via photopin.com cc