OM Yoga Magazine – April 2019

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racticing self-love is an ongoing commitment to

nourishing the most important relationship we have in

our lives: the one with ourselves. It’s an unconditional

acceptance for ourselves; the understanding that we

don’t need validation from external sources, but we’re

already perfect just as we are. Until we ind this space of peace

and acceptance within, we’ll always be looking elsewhere.

Each month we’ve been exploring a diferent self-love practice,

and this month we’re uncovering why gratitude is a fundamental

aspect of learning to love ourselves. We hear a lot about gratitude

as a way to live more mindful, conscious, happy lives, and this

goes hand in hand with self-love. Gratitude is about appreciating

everything we are blessed with now, no matter how small or

seemingly insigniicant these may be. Gratitude is about celebrating

where we’re at and what we have right now, rather than focusing on

what’s wrong, or what we don’t have. Self-love asks the same of us:

it asks us to appreciate and celebrate ourselves

as we are now, rather than focusing on what we

need to change.

A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.

Once you start to live life from a place of

gratitude for all you have rather than from a

place of scarcity, your attitude towards life,

yourself, and ultimately, how you love yourself,

totally changes. When you practice gratitude

daily, you begin to see all the blessings around

you, and that includes the blessing that is you.

As you begin to be truly grateful for yourself

and how you are now, you treat yourself with

the love you truly deserve. So practicing

gratitude leads us to deeper levels of self-love,

and practicing self-love reinforces all we have to

be grateful for. They go hand in hand.

Practicing gratitude doesn’t have to be

complicated and doesn’t have to take much

time at all. Small, consistent ways to remind

ourselves of the things we are grateful for

work best.

Here are a few suggestions for how you can

start a gratitude practice today:

n When you wake up, remind yourself of three

things you’re grateful for

n Every day, tell someone you love how much

you appreciate them

n Keep a gratitude journal, and each evening

write down something from your day that

you’re grateful for

n Smile more often, for no reason at all

n Notice the beauty in nature every day

n When public transport is running late, rather than complaining,

stop and think of one thing you’re grateful for in that moment

It’s easy to practice gratitude when life is going well, just like it’s

easy to love ourselves when we’ve achieved something, when

we think we look good, or when we have something speciic to

celebrate ourselves for. The real work is to practice gratitude and

self-love even when things don’t feel like they’re going well. To

realise that wherever we are, right this moment, is worth celebrating

and being grateful for.

Sabi Kerr is a yoga teacher and life coach. It’s her passion to

support people in developing deep levels of self-love, so that they

can move forwards and create their fullest lives (sabikerr.com)