Be Kind to Yourself!

For this weeks blog, I really wanted to talk to you all about different ways you can be kinder to yourself. This is something I know we all have struggled with, I know for me personally, self love has been one of my largest difficulties for my entire life.

Throughout my life, I was constantly picked on. While I had a great family, and a small, but solid close group of friends, I still found myself being identified as an outcast, mostly for the way that I looked or because of the things I was interested in. When you are made to feel like you don’t fit in for being yourself, it becomes so difficult to be comfortable within your own skin.

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However, as I’ve grown up, I am honestly proud to say that self love is something I’ve come to incorporate within my everyday life. When you learn to not care what others think of you, life becomes a lot more pleasant. Something I constantly remind myself is to remember who’s in your corner. The people who love you for who you are the ones that you need to keep around. These are the people that encourage you to succeed, and hold you to a higher standard. You will not need to try to be a certain someone with these people, and can be your complete self.

Another thing that I like to incorporate within my day is to make sure and give at least 3 compliments a day. It’s been said by many that when you give love, you receive love. Personally, I feel more happier when I am making others happy, because it gives me more of a purpose. It almost is like when you give someone a gift on Christmas and you can’t wait for them to open it because of how excited you are for them.

The final thing that I think is great for self love is to be your own personal hype man/ hype woman! Work on giving yourself compliments, whether you’re writing it down or saying it out loud in the mirror! Something my younger sister and I do is write sticky notes and put them on our bedroom mirrors so we can read them when we get ready for the day or for bed. The point is, when you speak it into existence, you really start to believe it. It is so important to remember that you are wonderful and unique in this world, because there really is no one like you!

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I really truly hope this helps you all in some way, whether it’s being kinder to yourself or the others around you, because you never know who really needs just a little extra love. It can go such a long way!

Guiding Your Own Meditation

Hello everyone! This week I am going to talk to you a little bit about how to lead your own guided meditation! It can take as long as needed, but I know with being college students, our time for relaxation and self care can be extremely limited. Therefore, I am going to break down what helps me meditate and relax, and will drop a quick little 10 minute meditation video below to help you get started! This is super easy and can really help with overthinking and releasing everyday stress.

First, what I do is take a moment to get comfortable and lie flat on my back. Even if you don’t usually sleep on your back, this makes it a lot easier to relax your body and muscles. Let go of any conversations or tensions you may have had throughout the day and take big, deep breaths, in through the nose and out through your mouth. Sometimes it can be comforting to place your hand on your stomach as well to feel your breath moving in and out.

Another very important part of meditating is really observing how your body feels. Does it feel heavy or light? Restless or still? Ready for sleep? This is important before moving the body towards sleep. It also helps to run through each part of your day from beginning to end. I typically pick out 25-30 moments of the day before moving onto a wind down.

A wind down helps relieve that tension that is in the body after a full day. This is where little by little, you relax each part of your body, beginning with the feet and ending with your face.

This is just a small start to many different ways you can meditate. I highly recommend the app called HeadSpace, which has a large variety of sleep casts, guided meditations, and morning meditations as well. It really helped get me started and I now am able to do it without using the app! I also have linked below a guided meditation that is sitting and is a great way to begin the day. Happy meditating everyone and have a great weekend!