By Fiction and Nonfiction Books Writer Denise Turney

Understand the advantages inherent in taking care of yourself, really taking care of yourself, and you could tap into natural motivation to practice self-care. But first you need to hurdle the belief that to take care of yourself is to be selfish.

This starts with understanding that self-care is more than going to the gym and exercising, working a rewarding job and making relationship choices that promote good mental health. Also, rather than being a one-time activity, self care is ongoing. In fact, at its core self love is a daily practice. Fortunately, much of what comprises daily this care can be done in a matter of minutes.

Quick Self Care Actions

These quick smart actions span across your physical health, mental health, finances, work, friendships, where you live and your spiritual health. Even if you’ve never made loving yourself a priority, here are actions that you could take to start proving to yourself that you’re valuable and worth endless love:

• Train your brain to enter deep, restful sleep as soon as you climb into bed. You can do this by going to bed around the same time each night. Turning the television and other technological devices off can reduce light streaming into your sleeping space, encouraging rest and sleep.
• Drink plenty of fresh water. If you’re accustomed to drinking sugary beverages, it could take a few weeks to get into the habit of drinking fresh water. Yet, as with walking a mile, if you take a step and keep going, you can develop that healthy self care habit.
• Dine on healthy food. If your diet is like mine once was, you might want to start with drinking fresh water. Do that for a few weeks and then start incorporating a diet of healthy food into your life. For instance, start eating a handful of fresh, raw vegetables in the morning (if your body digest and metabolizes vegetables well). Or you could get a juicer and make and drink a fruit juice for lunch.
• Invest time in relaxation. This could come through a walk through a safe outdoor area. It could also come through sitting on the front or back porch, etc. As simple as this may seem, it’s very important. Here’s a way to test to see if you’re relaxing enough each day. Continue with your normal routine for a month. Then, take just one day and do nothing. Don’t work on your side gig, babysit for a friend, work on an at-home project – nothing. Just relax. Monitor how soon you start to feel different – better. Stay motivated to this practice and you could feel this way regularly.

Motivated to Love Yourself

This is just a short list of self care actions that you could add to your lifestyle. However, as short as the list is and as simple as these actions can be, they won’t produce benefit if you aren’t motivated to love yourself.

A good way to get motivated to demonstrate that you love yourself and to practice self care is to pay attention to how you feel when you take just one act of self love. For example, in addition to the above actions, you could connect with a good friend once a week, giving yourself opportunity to have someone mirror love back to you.

You could also read inspirational quotes in the morning and at night. Surrounding yourself with people who are committed to walking in love is another effective step. People who are committed to love aren’t kind and caring sometimes. They are continuously loving.

It’s been shared before. Howbeit, do you catch yourself doing this? Do you catch yourself treating yourself the way you treat someone you love? Do you catch yourself loving you? How often? This is key, because if you don’t practice self care, you could push yourself too hard and experience burnout, anxiety, depression or even a physical illness.

Good Change to Continue Loving Yourself

Once you start practicing self care and make it part of your daily activities, don’t be surprised if others notice a good change in you. For instance, you might come across as more relaxed, open, satisfied, confident and happy.

Keep at it. In other words, consider adding more self love actions to your day. There’s meditation, yoga, deep breathing, nature hikes, listening to soothing music, playing (actually playing – like you did when you were a kid), dancing, etc.

Stop Looking Outside for Love

See if you don’t start to stop looking outside yourself for someone else to care for you, for someone else to love you. Take care of yourself. Show yourself that you’re valuable and that you have a worth that no words can express.

If you’re interested in tracking your progress, consider adding a beautifully designed writing journal to your bag of resources. Write in your journal every day, at least once a week, to get the most out of journaling. Not only will you be able to look back at your progress, you’ll have a tool to return to in order to spot mental habits, including mental blocks that might be holding you back from what you really want.