Learn how to have a better relationship with yourself in 5 simple steps

Improving your relationship with yourself is essential for living a happy and healthy life. Everything we do in life is a reflection of who we are and how we feel about ourselves. The relationship we have with ourselves determines the decisions we make and don’t make, the people we love and don’t love, and the money we give and don’t give.

We seldom ever consider our relationship with ourselves when we consider the relationships that are significant in our lives. One of the most crucial relationships you will ever have is the one with yourself since it determines how you behave in all of your other relationships.

Trust, respect, acceptance, compassion, and effective communication are some of the essential components of developing healthy relationships with people. When it comes to your connection with yourself, these same components are as important. The better your relationship with yourself, the easier it will be for you to express your needs to others and have happy fulfilling life.

A healthy relationship with oneself is essential if we want to have a great life.

Here are 5 ways to start:

1. Actively take care of yourself

Self-care, when practised deliberately, can be a remedy for feeling cut off from oneself. Self-care entails actively thinking about how you can look after yourself and recharge before you run out of energy. It’s a process that restores you and helps you feel connected to yourself.

Self-care can involve soothing activities as well as actions that preserve your energy, such as refusing to answer to work emails beyond a particular time or declining more tasks or time-consuming demands.

A few other examples of self-care activities include: giving yourself credit for making your bed, treating yourself to a date once a week, taking the time to notice your feelings each day, saying affirmations aloud in the morning, indulging in activities you once loved, finding small moments of happiness and staying in that moment for long, etc.

Self-care also entails getting enough sleep, eating nutritious meals, and exercising frequently.

2. Honestly assess the areas in your life that require improvement

Reflecting on the areas of your life where you are not honouring your needs, assessing the improvements you can make, and setting boundaries with others if necessary are essential steps to enhancing your connection with yourself.

Think about the areas of your life where you are feeling worn out is a good place to start. Perhaps you find yourself taking calls even after you have left work, or you realise that a certain family member always makes you feel agitated with their remarks about your children. You begin to establish trust when you consider ways to respect your wants and start acting in these areas.

3. Pay attention to your thoughts

You don’t have to pay attention to everything you think. Make a point of being very selective about the thoughts you pay attention to. What you focus on manifests in your experience.

Practice considering your thoughts as money. If you use your thoughts to purchase things you don’t desire, you’ll end up living in a home filled with objects you don’t want and wondering why they are there. You used your thought currency to purchase them. Do you want to?

4. What you need is self compassion

Self-compassion can help you overcome your inner critic and enhance your relationship with yourself.

The next time you catch yourself being judgmental of yourself, accept that you are hurting in the here and now. Instead of trying to hide it or shame yourself, ask yourself what you need right now and think about how you might be compassionate toward yourself. Imagine what you would say to a buddy in the same scenario, then use those same words to describe yourself if you have a critical inner voice and feel trapped.

Forgiveness is an important part of self-compassion. You carry a burden when you don’t forgive. To forgive oneself is to let go of the negative energy and to release it. We bring about peace when we forgive.

5. Pick one behaviour pattern you’ll stick with every day

Imagine having a friend who frequently forgets or fails to show up for the plans you set together. You can gradually begin to stop believing in that friend. When you don’t take care of your relationship with yourself, the same thing takes place.

Pick one new behaviour that will take you no more than 10 to 20 minutes per day at first, and don’t try to establish multiple new habits at once to avoid overwhelming yourself. A daily 5-minute meditation practise, 10-minute journaling sessions, a 5-minute stroll, or a 10-minute reading session from a book you like are a few options.

You can better your relationship with yourself over time by using this technique to help you gain your own trust.

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