February in Review- Love Yourself!

“Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.”
-Michael Masser

This month the prevailing themes in our school’s were love and kindness. Over the years, Valentines has taken a shift from focusing only on our romantic partnerships to various types of relationships that we appreciate and value. This month brought forward a new intention to focus on loving yourself.

Paying attention to the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves on a regular basis can dramatically help us to adjust our responses when we make mistakes, encounter challenges or have tough days. It may sound silly or goofy, but taking a few moments before you start your day and reciting or reading an affirmation that you connect with can really lay the foundation for the rest of your day. Below is a short video example of reciting affirmations!

DailyPicksandFlicks -Dad motivates daughter for school

Practicing loving kindness towards ourselves is as equally important as the gifts of your words and time that you bestow onto others. Some ideas to incorporate affirmations are to tape a phrase to your bathroom or bedroom mirror, having an affirmation background or lock screen on your phone or computer, or even setting affirmation alarms throughout the day to make sure you take the time to appreciate yourself. Dancing around your kitchen, or exercising to songs with uplifting messages such as Andy Grammer’s Love Myself while repeating the phrase can work too. But the key is to say the words to yourself with the focus on believing in them, believing in yourself.

Here are some more examples of ways you can take care of yourself and love yourself today!

Pamper yourself: Whatever that means to you
Listen to your body: Notice your feelings – if your body is telling you that you’re stressed out, tired or even hungry notice it and give your body what it need. If you’re stressed you could ask someone for help, if you’re tired you could try and get some more sleep!
Make time to have fun: Sometimes especially when we are feeling a bit burnt out, it’s really difficult to get up and go do something fun or different. Instead, we might end up stuck behind a screen for hours. Push yourself to try new things and switch things up!
Help yourself first: I like to say that people are like bird feeders – which might sound really strange but rest assured that it is a great analogy. With bird feeders, we can fill them with seeds and feed the birds. Little by little the birds munch away and the feeder empties. If we don’t replenish the feeder with more seeds once it empties, there will be nothing left to feed the birds with. If we do not take time to care for ourselves (or fill our feeder), we will be unable to effectively help others around us.
Search for things that make you smile!
Lastly, it’s always a boost when we listen to some self love and feel good music! Here are some of our favourite self love songs and feel good songs below!

“Me” – Taylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie