As we’re welcoming in the month of September, I thought it’d be powerful to set the intention of self-love for the month ahead.

Because, firstly, I couldn’t resist the alliteration and secondly, self-love is always a good idea.

Intention setting is a fantastic practice to direct our mind and actions, and a new month is a beautiful new opportunity to cultivate the mindset and actions we really want. When we live more intentionally, it helps us to align with what would really serve us in our lives.

When an intention is set, we know where we’re headed. It’s not necessarily about reaching one goal, but harnessing our energy toward the experience we intend to create or embody.

As I often say, what we focus on grows and this is how our intention makes a difference too. When we set a focus for our time, this focus expands.

So for this month, self-love is mine and the one I’d like to share during September. But I’d suggest tuning in to the intention that resonates best with you.

Of course self-love is much more than a month-long journey, but we’ve got to start somewhere.

So here are some suggestions to live this intention over the next month, if you feel called:

1. Self-loving self-talk

How we speak to ourselves is one of my favourite topics, so of course I’m going to say that first. Even if we’ve heard it a ton of times before, it’s so helpful to reconnect to this practice often. With our tendency to live on autopilot, we can easily forget to stay aware of our thoughts and redirect them toward more love. Having the intention of deepening, increasing, or connecting more to self-love means remembering to check in on how we’re speaking to ourselves. Keep the good ‘ol, “Would I speak to a friend like this?” in mind throughout the month to catch the inner critic’s conversations and quickly convert them to compassion.

2. Committing to self-care

Decide you’re going to ensure to look after yourself and your needs (physical, spiritual, mental, emotional). Even if just for this month, just for this week, just for today, just for now—wherever you need to start, choose to make yourself a priority.

I promise this is not selfish or self-indulgent, it is quite simply self-loving.

Recharge in the ways that suit you, say no when you need to, be there for yourself with unconditional friendliness. Make the commitment to gift yourself the care you would give someone you love. That commitment in itself is self-love in action.

3. Getting yourself out of funks

When you notice yourself in a mood, feeling low, self-sabotaging, staying stuck, any of these things—use Self-Love September as the loving kick up the butt to do something about it. Ask for help or support, give yourself a compassionate talking-to, do the things that you know help. Ultimately, un-funk yourself in whatever way you can.

I know this can be challenging to do. I’ve literally had to include this one because it’s the self-love practice I needed myself today, and no I didn’t do it straightaway (even though I knew it was an option)—but yes, I did feel a thousand times better once I did. Having a little check in on how we’re fuelling our own frustration or disempowerment is so beautifully self-supportive and helps us to build up that muscle of resiliently of having our own back, even when we don’t really want to.

4. Keeping a daily promise

What an opportune time to start building up self-trust and self-esteem with the simple practice of keeping the promises you make to yourself. If you want to get up earlier and keep telling yourself you will and also keep snoozing your alarm (yup I’m talking to myself here) use your intention to decide you’re going to have the loving discipline to follow through and show yourself your word means something.

Every time we do this, we’re watering the seed of self-love. Whatever it is you want to do for yourself, make your promises matter to you as much as they would to anyone else.

5. Reflecting on why this is a really great intention

I know that the idea of self-love can bring up all kinds of stuff for us, but I also know from my own experience that it truly is the key to loving our lives. Without at least being on the journey to self-love, we’re much more susceptible to taking sh*t from ourselves and others, perpetually people pleasing, overthinking, getting overwhelmed, getting burnt out, resenting our loved ones, feeling anxious and depressed, using our bodies as a punching bag, constantly comparing, and the list goes on.

So instead of doing that, consider what could be different for you if you lived with the intention of learning to love yourself more this month? What would your life look and feel like if you really loved who you are? What decisions would you make, what actions would you take, what difference could you create?

How much more energy, lightness, and freedom could you have?

Self-love has honestly been the ultimate game-changer for me, but yes, I get that it can be the last thing we want to engage with sometimes. We could have all kinds of stories made up in our minds about what it might mean when we love ourselves, what could happen, what others might think.

But, really what is the alternative?

You are the one person you’re going to spend every moment of your life with, wouldn’t that be at least a little bit better if you loved yourself?

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