Early on in my relationship to Mark I knew we had the makings of an epic love affair. We had the passion, the magnetism, …and we were even told by someone at a gas station on our first road trip together, that we were “an exotic couple!” HA! We still laugh about that.

But while passion and magnetism were important to us, they were not the deciding factor in what would later make our love affair epic and long-lasting. I needed to learn how to love and receive love.

My intimacy training began for real, in the day to day relationship classroom. And the question I needed to answer was…could I love myself?

Your relationship with your partner is usually a reflection of the relationship you have with yourself. And I would come to discover that I had quite the loud, judging inner critic and I was ashamed of parts of myself which made it hard for me to receive love and adoration from Mark or truly love him.

I desperately wanted to be loved but because of my own insecurities, I couldn’t let love in. This became more uncomfortable than any fear I had about being vulnerable or being seen.

So I set out on my own self-love journey and discovered it’s the most worthy one there is ;-).

 Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. First thing when you wake up, wrap your arms around yourself and say I love you to yourself.
2. When doing your face care routine, take a moment to look into your eyes in the mirror and say “Hey Beautiful.”
3. Write yourself a love letter and mail it to yourself to arrive in time for Valentine’s Day.

Have fun and let me know how it goes. You’ve got this!

When you are having a love affair with yourself you’re attracting the same love, joy, and expansive energy that you’re emitting. It’s an all-around win-win!

Cheers to more pleasure!

Photo by Ava Sol