Even though the concept of self-love may sound like a fad, many psychological studies indicate that self love and self-compassion are necessary to maintain good mental health and lead a happy, fulfilling life.
So what makes it so important?
In a nutshell, self-love means being kind to yourself. This means that the people who need self-love and compassion the most are usually the ones who are too hard on themselves. These people are often perfectionists.
Being a perfectionist is risky, harsh, and comes with a set of psychological and physical issues that you’ll have to deal with.
Several studies have shown that perfectionists are at higher risk of developing several different diseases that self compassion can save them from.
How To Develop Self Love And Self Compassion
The concept of self-love isn’t foreign—human beings were designed to accept themselves for who they are, love that person, and be kind to themselves. But this acceptance only comes if our basic needs are met—psychological and physiological.
For some people, for who these needs are met, self-love came naturally. For others, however, the concept is a little harder to come by—although not impossible.
One way of developing self-love and compassion is to listen to yourself. Human beings are harsher to themselves than anyone else.
Paying attention to how you talk to yourself internally will make you realize how harshly you judge yourself. Once you’ve identified your inner self-critic, you need to work toward replacing that harsh tone with a kind, gentle voice that is healing, accepting of mistakes, and encourages learning.
Another way of cultivating self-love is to reframe your needs. Reframing is a neuropsychological technique that helps you reshape the way you view things. It could help you change the way you look at a situation, a past event and even yourself.
Reframing is a powerful technique that can help you get rid of negative beliefs, promising a happier, more fulfilling life.
To try out reframing, you can easily download NIKU, an app available on both, the Apple App Store and the Google PlayStore. This app works on ‘reframing of needs’ principal and functions as an online psychological counselor or a life coach, helping you look at life with a fresh, new perspective.
