6 Powerful Ways to Practice Self-Love & Healing

Summer is a great time for renewal, for shedding all the messy layers from the previous season, and to practice some good ol’ self-love. “The summer solstice is a time to celebrate the light of consciousness within ourselves and within every person,” says Life Coach and CO-Founder/CEO of Dignity Universal, Michelle Jeovanny Lopez. “It represents the final climax of the sun’s journey as the day of the most light in the year.”

Take that vacation and hit up that pool party, but also take this time to set intentions and heal up from whatever obstacles or challenges you may have faced earlier this year. Here are six powerful ways to practice self-love and healing this summer!

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Get serious about meditation time.  You want to make sure you’re dedicating a few quiet minutes to meditation before starting off your day and before bed. “How you greet yourself in the morning will set you up for the day,” says Lopez. “I recommend a combination of meditation, prayer, gratitude, and movement. It can be 10 minutes of meditation, gratitude, and a few sun salutations.” Try waking up early to start your meditation while the sun is still rising.

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Put away the phone. I love a good selfie as much as the next person. But we already spend so much of our time hooked to the phone, it’s important to try to dedicate at least a few minutes a day to completely disconnect. “Waking up and reaching for your phone is like programming yourself to search for the external to satisfy the internal,” says Lopez. “Give yourself a time limit before reaching for the phone. 30 minutes minimum when waking up and before going to sleep.” This is bigger act of self-love than you’d realize.
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Nurture your body. Loving, embracing, but also taking good care of your body is another important part of self-love. Part of loving yourself is taking care of yourself. “Being mindful of our intake from food, water, to the music we listen to and the words we say to ourselves, is super important,” says Lopez who emphasizes also paying close attention to the toxic relationships you might currently have in your life. “Our bodies are vessels, channels, and to the degree we nurture our space will determine our experience, our attitude on life, our self-worth and our productivity.”
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Challenge yourself with something new. “Get out of your comfort zone. Do things differently,” says Lopez. “Sleep on the different side of the bed. Brush your teeth with different hands. Try new things. Take different commutes to work. Challenge yourself to experience life in a new way, moment to moment.” Lopez recommends engaging with friends, taking a yoga class, a dance class, or just exploring the outdoors. “Explore yourself through new things, new ways, new approaches. We become creatures of habit and life begins to lose it’s wonder,” she adds. “Get out and explore. It’s a matter of getting out of our routine and endless tasks and experiencing life to the fullest.”
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Practice positive self-affirmations. You’d be surprised how powerful positive affirmations are, especially when said out loud. When you confidently make a positive statement about a perceived truth you call it into your life and it leads to significant change and healing. Need help coming up with some? Pick up Alexandra Elle’s book Words from a Wanderer. This beautiful collection of #anote2self affirmations serves as a perfect resource for daily meditation, mantra guidance, and self-healing.
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Practice forgiveness. When you don’t forgive, you’re essentially the one that gets and stays hurt. Buddha compared holding on to anger to grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else, but being the one who gets burned. Holding a grudge is never worth it. Lopez recommends a forgiveness exercise to clients that attend her spiritual workshops. Take a piece of paper and list the names of everyone you have been struggling to forgive. Take a second to meditate over the list and then burn it. Let it all go. Singing a song out-loud with powerful lyrics is also helpful. Listen to Kesha’s new single “Praying.” It’s good one for anyone healing from a toxic or abusive relationship.