“Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.” Michael Masser and Linda Creed

Loving ourselves is a process but it’s important to begin today. Why wait? You are your most important asset. Love yourself and you’ll build an awesome life.

1. Decide to stop beating yourself up. Give up negative self-talk – quit being so hard on yourself. Self-defeating behaviors get in the way of having an awesome life.

2. Start your day with the “I am Awesome” cheer. Loudly shout the following each morning: “I am awesome! I am beautiful or handsome! And I have permission to succeed!”

3. Hang affirmations on your mirror. When I struggled to lose weight I hung a sign on my mirror that said, “I am okay exactly the way I am.” As I began to love myself through affirmations, the weight began to come off.

4. Take care of your appearance. When you look good, you feel good. Most of us will never be drop-dead gorgeous. That’s life. But by focusing on our strengths and taking care of what we do have, we can feel awesome.

5. Pamper yourself. Treat yourself to regular time for you. Buy yourself something you love, take time to lounge or go visit your favorite place. It’s okay to spoil yourself and to do it often.

6. Write a list of 100 things you like about yourself. Start with five and add three new ones each day. Then when you begin to get down on yourself, take out your list and read it out loud.

7. Practice the art of loving yourself daily. Be your own cheerleader and best friend. Loving yourself is the best gift you can give yourself.

8. Visit your doctor regularly. Taking care of your body is essential. Value your health and listen to your doctor’s advice.

9. Seek professional help when needed. The truly wise and the truly strong seek the help they need. If you need help – get it.

10. Remove “I am fat” from your vocabulary forever. Focusing on our fat is depressing, self-destructive and does not bring about weight loss. Focus on what you do like about your body and love those parts.

11. Challenge yourself physically. Take a class, run a race or push yourself in the weight room. Overcoming physical challenges creates strong muscles and strong minds.

12. Get dressed up and go out somewhere fun. Changing your environment and getting fancied up feels good.

13. Trust your gut. You know what is right for you. By listening to and trusting your inner voice, you live an authentic life.

14. Do as I do. Model the behaviors and attitudes you want from others. Others are watching you – what does your life say?

15. Be 76 percent positive about yourself. Studies say that 70 to 80 percent of all self-talk is negative. Make a commitment to reprogram your self-talk to be 70 to 80 percent positive.

16. Take a risk every day. Make that phone call, speak up at a meeting or introduce yourself to someone new. Taking risks every day keeps us alive, passionate and true to ourselves.

17. Create an “I am awesome” brag book. This book can include special letters, cards, awards and photos that celebrate you. This book is a reminder that people love you and that you have many accomplishments.

18. Stop self-sabotage. You are worthy of success. You have permission to succeed and you can accomplish what you set out to do.

19. Accept compliments. There is no reason to discard what others say. Take the compliments and simply say thank you.

20. Tell others that you are making a commitment to love yourself and ask for their help in holding you accountable. Ask them to share your strengths with you and to encourage you in the process.

21. Be honest. Being honest with ourselves and others is a great way to love ourselves more. When we are honest, we have nothing to fear or feel guilty about.

22. Have fun. Being playful and letting ourselves have fun is a great way to feel good about ourselves.

23. Give yourself a big hug. We all need touch. When we hug ourselves, we are telling ourselves that we love who we are.

24. Give of your time. Giving of your time and resources feels good and gets the focus off of our problems. By focusing on others, we can feel better about ourselves.

25. Be gentle. Practice being gentle with yourself. We can be way too hard on ourselves. Be gentle both physically and emotionally.