We can often stumble upon blog posts on how to improve our relationships with our friends or partner, however, we can rarely read about how to strengthen our bond with ourself, which is crucial. Having a strong relationship with yourself is a base for all of your other relationships as you are able to communicate your needs more effectively and you find your other relationships more appealing. When you have a healthy self-relationship, you are able to value yourself as a person and be aware of and accept all your strengths and weaknesses. In order to do that, you need to do build and bolster that relationship actively. There are several ways you can do that. For starters, you should get to know yourself better. Then, when you figure out who you are, you should take care of yourself. Other things that can strengthen your bond with yourself include practicing self-compassion, meditation and doing the things that make you happy and that you enjoy. Take a look at some useful ways on how to make your relationship with you stronger.
- Get to know yourself better
If you’ve lost focus on yourself, the best way to return it is to get to know yourself better. If you don’t have your own identity, it can be tough for you to realize what you want from life. Without being familiar with who you are, there isn’t much you can do to achieve your goals, meet your own needs and standards, and basically live according to your own value system. Important events in our life such as breakups, career changes, childbirth, among other things, can help you see more clearly how you’ve changed. This kind of revelation can bring about some questions to yourself about the person you’ve become, as you can notice some new aspects of your personality emerge. It can also happen that you can’t accept these changes and transformations right away, as you need some time to absorb them. On the other hand, failing to accept these changes can leave you feeling incomplete, unhappy and unfulfilled. So, when you do realize who you are, you can concentrate on doing things that make you happy. For instance, if you get joy from cooking and baking, learn about some of the very best cookie recipes and bake them – it will make you feel more positive about yourself.
- Take care of yourself
One of the things that can really help you when it comes to making your relationship with yourself stronger is engaging in meaningful self-care. Regular and right self-care can be an effective antidote to feeling disconnected from yourself and perhaps depressed. Taking care of yourself is about knowing how to recharge yourself and intentionally affect your state of mind positively before feeling washed out. It is a process that essentially connects you more to yourself and that replenishes both your body and mind. Self-care activities can be different things for different people. For instance, for some people self-care is about indulging in relaxing activities such as watching a movie or series, taking a walk, exercising, cooking, or anything that relaxes you. For some people, self-care means not responding to work emails after office hours and not accepting work on projects that take your free time. Also, it is about getting quality rest, eating nourishing food, some of it being Australian made products, as well as being physically active.
- Practice self-compassion
Some studies that were conducted have shown that regularly practicing self-compassion can improve your relationship with yourself. Moreover, it can help in combating your inner critic. In order to be self-compassionate, there are some activities that you can do and that is known to foster it. For example, next time when you are critical of yourself, instead of shaming yourself or trying to bottle it up, reflect on the fact that you are experiencing some kind of suffering at that moment. And at that moment, think about the ways you can show yourself compassion. If you feel stuck and have a strong inner critic, you can always imagine a situation and think about what you would say to a friend in that situation. And finally, try to apply the advice to yourself.
- Meditate
If practiced regularly, meditation can help you in reducing the effects of negative self-talk. By practicing meditation, you can not only improve your relationship with yourself but also with other people. Moreover, recent research has concluded that meditation can boost your self-compassion as well as compassion for other people. There are different types of meditation practices, such as the Loving-Kindness Meditation and Self-Compassion Break, which have different aims when practiced.
- Do the things you enjoy
Think about what the things you enjoy doing are and devote time to doing them. You need to be proactive and make time for yourself. At first, it is probably going to be a big effort, but eventually, in time, you’ll get your mind and body used to it. In time, these things will become an absolute necessity you can’t have a day or two without. Doing the things, you enjoy makes you feel happy and fulfilled and that’s why it’s essential to make them a part of your life.
To be a complete and satisfied person, in a loving relationship with yourself, you need to dedicate some time and give yourself some serious TLC. People usually don’t think it’s so important or they overlook it, but in fact, it is a crucial aspect on your way to genuine happiness.
Author bio:
My name is Grace Wilson. I’m a 27-year-old biotechnologist and kind of a bookish girl. Surfing the Internet is my favourite, that’s why I’ve turned into blogging. Following a healthy mindset and lifestyle is what I consider my life principle. If interested, follow my Twitter.
