She looks in the mirror, skin still damp from her shower. As she makes eye contact with herself and she realizes how far she has come. 

She scans her entire body, her soft demeanor, tattoos covering portions of her skin and she smiles at the joy they bring her, the chapters in her life they represent. 

She makes her way down to her breasts, and thinks back to all the things they represent; her pubescent years as her beliefs system started to form and all the things society told her that her figure should be, her child calmly sucking on her nipples as they expressed sustenance to her newborn, how different they looked then and how different they look now, and a tear rolls down her cheek. 

As her gaze lowers to her stomach she grazes her hand over the stretch marks that now cover her once tight and toned body, skin that had stretched to the point of tearing as her children formed inside of her, stretch marks that once made her scared to look at herself, stretch marks that once brought so much insecurity, shame, and embarrassment, and now they represent the strength that she has within her, no longer does she see them as something to hide or worse apologize to forgotten lovers for. 

Now she proudly displays them, she loves each and every one of them and what they mean to her. As she stares at herself in the mirror, completely in love with her beauty, she breaths in and feels her body tingle. This is what it means to love yourself.

Have you ever been told to that you just need to love yourself more? What does that even mean and how do you get there? It took me years to realize the importance of self-love and what exactly that means and honestly, it didn’t need to be that hard, I just needed more information. I needed to know that self-love is as simple as showing yourself compassion and grace, consistency, and nurturance and simultaneously as complex as the cosmos, as your psyche might be riddled with trauma and feelings of unworthiness. 

Self-love is a state of being and a mindset, a way of living.  A place where you value your own mind, body, and energy as much as or more than you do anyone else’s. You speak positively to yourself, you comfort yourself, meet all of your needs and work toward your desires. It is a place of safety, comfort, and peace and a feeling that is out of this world!. 

Self-Love means sitting with your demons, the monsters under the bed, the parts and pieces of yourself that you deemed unworthy, and showing those parts love too. Honoring them for the part they played and bringing them into the light with you. It’s a holistic kind of love, wholly unholy, and free of judgment. 

Self love means getting to know and reparenting your inner child. So that they might too understand their worth, their sovereignty their power. It’s about giving magic back to all the parts of your soul that society, parents, and institution attempted to amputate. 

When self-love encompasses your being you start to attract magic into your life. You see beauty in everything around you. You feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, people radiate toward you and you start to manifest everything meant for you.  It is a feeling of safety and security. It is a warm home for your soul. 

It’s doesn’t mean everything is sunshine and daisies all the time. But it doesn’t mean that no matter the storm you love and understand yourself enough to make it through, with gentle compassion, truth and integrity. 

Self-love doesn’t come overnight, but with mindful practice, and inner work it can transform you. I have found that consistent rituals, daily check-ins, and a healthy relationship with my inner child helped me the most. 

My Inner Child Oracle Deck allows you to tune-in daily and also provides you with daily journalling questions, rituals, remedies, meditations and more. It’s a great place to expand on your own healing journey. For the month of December my entire Inner Child Collection is 10% off.