I’d appreciate your doing something for me. Please read this and pass it to as many people as you can. The message below can make a meaningful difference in the world.

I’m thrilled and excited to announce that my self-love initiative is now officially called The Self-Love Movement™, and I’m expanding it for 2013! January is officially registered as Self-Love Month and I encourage you to start the year on a loving path. My book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways is available for FREE and you can sign a pledge to commit to doing something kind for yourself for the first 31 days of 2013. Let this be the year of self-love for you! This is not just about trying in January. I hope that if you start the year with more kindness toward yourself, you’ll continue throughout the whole year!

I was about to get a deal for the book with a publisher when I got a calling from God to give the book away for free to help people. While I’m not making money by giving the book away, I’ve never felt so satisfied with anything I’ve done! The emails I get from people who my book and pledge have helped are priceless! I was unhappy, with no loving feelings for myself for about two thirds of my life and am thrilled to be able to give back for the blessing of falling in love with me! Self-love, combined with strong faith, allows me to wake up happy every day.

I grew up feeling fat and unworthy of love. That led me to become a DoorMat—the only way I thought I could gain approval and attention from others. Self-love was elusive back then when I lived in DoorMatville. I pleased everyone so they’d like me. The only one I didn’t please was me! I didn’t feel worthy of loving attention. Back then I felt comatose, passing time instead of living and feeling unworthy of love for many years. Not surprisingly, I didn’t receive much. I thought I was destined to be unhappy forever.

One day a funny thing happened. I treated myself to a little kindness and felt good from it. So I began to do other things that made me feel good. I remember the first time I said no to a favor a friend asked of me. I had plans and she wanted me to come over and watch her kids so she could go out. In the past I’d have put my plans aside but something made me say I was busy and couldn’t. She was surprised but accepted it. I felt so happy to do what I’d planned. It might sound like nothing but back then, I never quite felt my time was my own. My choices were all about what would make others happy.

As I said “no” to more things I didn’t want to do, I smiled more. I began doing little things that also made me smile, like going to a coffee shop to read, taking more walks, and splurging on a lotion that I loved. It was only $5 more than the cheaper one but for that small amount, I smiled every day when I applied it. The more kindness I showed me, the better I felt and the more motivated I was to do nice things for me. I became more considerate of myself and my needs. That was a big positive change for me!

Until then, I’d never thought about how neglecting my needs and desires affected my outlook. I’d been too unhappy to notice. But my eyes continued to open as the things I did for me improved my mood and kept me smiling. Considerate. That used to be a word I’d only used on other people. Considerate. Why not be that to me? Wasn’t I a person? Didn’t I deserve to be treated as well as I treated others? Wow! The answers hit me hard, like a mental slap that woke me up. Just because I had some extra pounds and hair that frizzed didn’t mean I wasn’t worthy of being treated lovingly! We all deserve it.

No matter how much you may see yourself as imperfect, you are just as deserving of being considerate to YOU as others are. Actually, you should treat yourself even better than you treat others. And each little kind act you show yourself is a brick in the foundation of your self-love. Kindness feels good! Ignoring your needs and desires doesn’t. As a human being you owe it to yourself to make you as happy as possible. Building self-love helps you recognize that. You may not think it’s possible to love yourself but trust me, if I could do it, anyone can, one loving act at a time!

Self-love makes people happier, and motivates more kindness and loving actions to others, and yourself. And happier people make a happier world! That’s why I’m giving my book away and have all the activities around building self-love. I WANT YOU TO HAVE THE BENEFITS OF LOVING YOURSELF MORE!! I want you to enjoy looking in the mirror instead of wincing. I want you to want to please yourself instead of putting your energy into pleasing others.

I WANT YOU TO JOIN THE SELF-LOVE MOVEMENT™! Please spread the word to everyone you that people can get involved at HowDoILoveMe.com. Email everyone you know. Forward this article to everyone you know. Put it on social media. I sincerely want to spread self-love. Lets do this together. Start by signing the pledge to begin 2013 with 31 days of self-love. If you want to get more involved with or have any ideas for The Self-Love Movement™ please let me know.

God is guiding me to do this. I hope that the spirit of self-love motivates you to at least increase your own. Please share any loving things you do for you on The Self-Love Movement™ site. I wish you the blessing of loving yourself with all your heart!
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Join The Self-Love Movement! Take the 31 Days of Self-Love Commitment and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways for free at http://howdoiloveme.com. Read my 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE.

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