Delving deeper into the belief that self-love is the foundation upon which wellness is built, our BePure Holistic Health Consultants share the integral role self-love plays in nurturing their own health journeys, as well as supporting those of their clients.
Self-love means and looks like different things to different people. However, when it comes to self-love and our health, we aren’t mucking around. Let’s have a look at the different ways we can integrate self-love into our life and the science behind doing so.
1. Practise Positive Self-Talk
Self-love means having compassion for and considering yourself in your actions throughout the day. What we tell ourselves directly affects our body and how we feel. For example; we can have control over our hormones just by monitoring our thoughts. Being our own cheerleader supports our production of dopamine - our reward chemical, otherwise known as the ‘motivator molecule’. It is dopamine that tells us, “Yes I CAN”.
"Self-love means having compassion for and considering yourself in your actions throughout the day."
Serotonin is a more gentle, nurturing hormone we can stimulate by challenging the thoughts of self-doubt that pop into our head. Additionally, negative self-talk is perceived by the brain as stress and so cortisol, our stress hormone, is elevated. To think that we can control our hormones by monitoring our self-talk is pretty incredible and empowering.
– Grace Lee, BePure Holistic Health Consultant
2. Ask, ‘What do I need right now?’
Our bodies are highly intuitive. Even though we still don’t fully understand the intricacies of the body, it knows what to do. Its one job is to keep us alive and thriving, and it’s constantly sending us messages telling us what it needs for optimal health. Paying close attention to these signs is hugely valuable for our self-care. Our body knows best.
– Helen Duyvestyn, BePure Holistic Health Consultant
3. Listen and respond to your body
Building on Helen’s question, ‘what do I need right now?’ which is a powerful question to nurture self-love, honouring its answer by responding to it appropriately and considerately.
Every major metabolic pathway in our body depends on essential micronutrients; found in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. This means that our bodies ability to rebuild, synthesise hormones, detoxify toxins and create energy are all dependant on these essential micronutrients.
Listening to what your body needs and allowing it to lead the way, means that you’re not being restricted by a diet or lifestyle, but simply gravitating towards wholesome living – a life of abundant energy and great health.
– Grace Mortimer, BePure Holistic Health Consultant
4. Nature Walks and Nourishing Nutrients
Everything is interlinked. Our thoughts affect our physiology, and our physiology affects our thoughts. What’s good for the mind, is good for the body, is good for the soul. Activities, behaviours and experiences that are truly rooted in self-love tick-off each of these parts of us.
“Everything is interlinked. Our thoughts affect our physiology, and our physiology affects our thoughts.”
For example, going for a walk in nature can stimulate the release of feel good endorphins, making us feel happy, gentle activity and being outdoors is relaxing which lowers our levels of cortisol, and when we feel good, we have happy thoughts! Nutrients are the building blocks of hormones, so when are bodies have their nutrient requirements met, they are able to easily create the hormones such as dopamine and serotonin which we experience as feelings. It’s a wonderful cycle to put energy into.
– Ruby Chapman, BePure Holistic Health Consultant
5. Routine is your best friend
Consistency is key – it’s not what you do once in a while that counts, but what you do on a regular basis. Having a morning routine of beneficial ‘non-negotiables’ means that nourishing behaviours are checked off earlier on rather than leaving them until the last minute and then not doing them. Better yet, they become part of your daily ritual – simply a part of your life that you don’t need to think about.
– Sarah Vickers, BePure Holistic Health Consultant
Key self-love takeaways from BePure Holistic Health Consultants
- Offer yourself unconditional compassion
- Regularly check in with your body and ask what it needs
- Honour and respond to the needs of your body
- Nourish your mind, body and soul
- Integrate acts of self-love into your daily routine.
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