I’m facilitating a women’s circle around a theme of self-love tomorrow evening, and I’m so looking forward to it.
So, I thought I’d share a short post today on something I’ve been doing on and off for about a year to strengthen my self-love muscles.
I attended an awesome Relationships Workshop last year, and one of the homework exercises they gave us was a yogic self-love practice of looking at yourself in the eye in the mirror and saying ‘I love you’. I’d heard of mirror work before through Louise L. Hay’s books, but for some reason I’d always put it off for another time.
But this time, I began to try it. I simply set my phone timer for one minute, looked at myself in the eye in the mirror and said ‘I love you’. I did this every day, and sometimes I also said ‘I like you’ or ‘I forgive you’ – or even sometimes the full Ho'oponopono forgiveness mantra. While it felt really uncomfortable and awkward at first, I felt something deep within me responding, and beginning to relax. As an unexpected side benefit, I noticed that people in my life actually started acting more loving towards me and suddenly wanted to spend more time with me - and unexpected opportunities even popped up out of nowhere. It felt almost magical!
So, I invite you to try it for yourself... and see what magic of your own you can create...
Self-Love's Got Everything to Do with It Mirror Challenge:
Commit to saying ‘I love you’ to yourself in a mirror for one minute every day for one month.
Tip: Set your phone timer beforehand to help you keep track of time.
This blog post and practical exercise is from the ‘Self-Love and the City’ chapter of my book The Patriarchy Illusion: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Spiritual Feminism.