Cooking up Some Self-Love: your 5 step guide! What’s your delicious self-love pizza going to be?

Do you genuinely love yourself? As in, look at your body and love what you see? Do you believe in yourself and have the confidence of an eagle? Do you know that you have flaws, but still accept how utterly incredible you are? I truly hope that you answered a resounding yes to all these questions! But it is also totally okay if you hesitated or blatantly said no to some or all of them. Even if you triumphantly believe all of them to be true, chances are likely that, at some point in your life, maybe you didn’t believe in or love yourself. Here is your guide to cooking up some self-love!

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Guest post written by Kelli over at Living Lotus

“Owning our story and loving ourselves through the process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do” – Brene Brown

I have found that it’s incredibly important to look inward when trying to solve problems in your life. Becoming unbalanced happens to everyone. We are all human and emotions are so hard to navigate. Emotional navigation doesn’t have a map, the destination itself is unknown, you are blindfolded and there are minefields everywhere. What could possibly go wrong on the road to cooking up some self-love?

Emotions are like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Emotions are pretty great at sneaking up on us and they are one of the many ninjas employed by our brains.

You can be as skilled at consistently battling said ninjas but then suddenly Bebop, Rocksteady, and Shredder all pop up out of nowhere and you feel like you are screwed. Momentarily screwed of course, because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles always prevail against evil! They may retreat if need be but they are just fueling up on some pizza and then resume their butt kicking bravery shortly after. 

That’s the point of this guide to cooking up some self-love… it’s totally tubular! Essentially, self-love is somewhat self-explanatory; however, it’s more than just telling yourself that you are pretty or telling yourself that you are smart. Self-love is a process and meant to be used in tandem with other mental health aides such as counseling or therapy, medicine if needed, and other external support.

The self-love process is vital, so let’s talk about what your goals should be in the Cooking Up Some Self-Love process. 

         Your Guide To Cooking Up Some Self-Love

Here is the basic “recipe” you need to help you with cooking up some self-love:

1. Carefully knead your dough (looking inward)
2. Spread your sauce on the dough (reflection)
3. Add your toppings (figure out hobbies)
4. Don’t forget the cheese! (self-affirmations) 
5. Throw it in the oven (set plan in motion)

Get out your apron, folks- it’s self-love pizza time!

Step 1 in your guide to cooking up some self-love: Carefully knead your dough – Looking inward to figure out what’s off for you mentally or physically

Looking inward requires us to be present. If you are feeling calm and present, try to gauge how you are feeling now. Have you been feeling off? Had any recent issues of extreme emotions? Now remember, They don’t have to be extreme of course, any emotions you don’t normally exhibit count too. 

Sometimes, emotions are high or crazy due to hormones being out of whack as well. If that’s the case, just acknowledge that. We are simply trying to assess everything going on in our bodies at the moment. This may include our physical symptoms, such as tension, headaches, or fatigue. Make a list of everything you are feeling right now emotionally, mentally, and physically. This is such an important step in Cooking Up Some Self-Love!

Step 2 in your guide to cooking up some self-love: Spread your sauce on the dough – Reflect on what you need to feel better 

Now that we have a solid base we know what emotions or symptoms are interfering with us. Next is to figure out what is going to make us feel better? An immediate answer may not be prevalent to you and that is completely okay and something that will be covered in the next couple of steps! If physical symptoms feel too out of control, you may also need help from your doctor (which is also okay and nothing to be embarrassed about!). 

Think about small things that can soothe the tension you have. Maybe a hot bath or a massage does the trick? Great! Schedule that massage, take that bath, buy your favorite bath bomb, or even a neck massager off Amazon (this neck and back massager is great)!

Get in to see your doctor or make an appointment with your counselor or therapist. Try to visualize what is needed in order to feel better. 

Step 3 in your guide to cooking up some self-love: Add your toppings- Figure out hobbies

Pizza is vital to our green, sewer-dwelling heroes. They don’t seem to be picky on their toppings, however… Sausage and jelly beans? Hot fudge and anchovies? Uhh, no thanks, boys! You, however, can be as picky as you want. Don’t get what I am implying? Pizza is your life, you create it however you see fit! You choose whatever toppings you want.

I would encourage you to execute hobbies that require the use of your hands or imagination, so that you have to intensely focus on something. Let’s see…hobbies involving your hands: Woodworking, crafting, baking or cooking, knitting or crocheting, gardening, underwater basket weaving…the possibilities are endless. Hopefully you have a good variety to choose from. 

Step 4 in your guide to cooking up some self-love: Don’t forget the cheese! Self-affirmations and practicing gratitude 

A positive mind breeds optimism. You can’t expect to live in a pessimistic, sad, or cynical state and have your life be sweet. When you vibrate at a higher frequency you will attract the very same things in your life which is why this is so important on the list of your guide to cooking up some self-love. 

On the flip side, if you vibrate lower, due to not being healthy and allowing your mental state to be less than stellar, you will find unhappiness follows you in droves, Crang. Affirmations are positive mantras there to help you keep looking up and stay on track in life. It can be hard to look out at our often scary world and find any kind of inspiration, so having a handy list of affirmations to refer to is helpful. I personally use Pinterest as my go-to for finding affirmations that resonate with my soul. 

I also included practicing gratitude here. Try to write down at least three things you feel grateful for every single day. You will find that when you point out to yourself the abundance of gifts currently present in your life, you become all around happier. There is incredible power in believing that you are worthy of everything you receive! 

Now, a list of gratitude doesn’t have to be grandiose or encompass all tangible items. You could feel grateful for your ability to be reading this post, perhaps. Feeling happy that taco Tuesday at your favorite restaurant has delicious margaritas half price? Anything that makes you even just the slightest bit happy, is Yeah! Now you’re catching on!

For some great affirmations, check out my post here for over 40 mantras!

Step 5 in your guide to cooking up some self-love: Throw it in the oven- Set plan in motion, check in with yourself often

Now that we have figured out what’s bothering us, we have a basic idea of what we want change to look like, we know what hobbies we are going to do and we have our backpacks filled with affirmations. Now we have to set all that in place!

Get your self-love on my friend. Perform your hobbies in earnest, knowing they are helping you thrive. Read those affirmations over and over. Be gentle with yourself, and your brain will start to process things and hopefully allow you to make connections. 

If, in Step 2 above, you weren’t quite able to figure out what you needed to feel better, hopefully that answer will start to become clear to you after more self-love is practiced. Provide your brain and body all the tools they need and enjoy the self-love you very much deserve. You will likely make the connections your brain is desperately needing to get you back on track and balanced. 

There is always a temperature and time frame associated with baking a pizza, right? Well, in this case, you just gotta “bake your pizza” until you feel better. There is no right or wrong timetable to feeling better. It is best to not hold yourself to any hard deadlines here. 

Be sure to check in with yourself every day. As often as you think of it, or at the very least right before bed, ask yourself how you are feeling or how you felt throughout the day. For example, if you haven’t noticed tension in a couple days, then you have helped your body to de-stress and relieve some of that tension. Great job! Your pizza is baking well! 

Alternatively, maybe you aren’t noticing a difference just yet. That is totally fine too! Try to remain patient and stay dedicated to your plan, this is all about cooking up some self-love and that amount of time it takes to bake is completely up to your body.

Think back on your steps up to this point. Maybe you forgot a step to the recipe? Maybe the hobby you chose is too stressful for the time being? You just need some extra help maybe? Identify the issue(s) as to why your pizza isn’t baking right and adjust your plan. Seek outside help where needed as well. You are trying so hard, so don’t forget that. You will get this figured out!

Satisfaction guaranteed…feed your soul!

Your end goal here is to chow down on that pizza with the vigor and excitement of Raphael and his brothers and feel content after being hungry. In other words, to get your mind and body in balance, so that you are no longer flailing. To feel grounded in your life and able to face challenges and be the confident eagle you know you can be. 

Once you feel grounded, I hope you have the ability to truly state that you genuinely love yourself. You are a strong and unique individual who deserves happiness. Create it, my friend! Cowabunga!!

Want some other great self-love posts check out more here and below!

Over 40 great mantras & affirmations for whatever day you are having by The Caffeinated Mom
Easy 5-minute self-care ideas by The Caffeinated Mom

My name is Kelli and I am a self-proclaimed Wellness Educator and Blogger. I have no medical or wellness degrees, but my experiences in dealing with mental health and illness, domestic violence, and traumas have provided me the ability to learn and grow substantially. I share my experiences on my blog in hopes of helping others. Check out more on my site at Living Lotus!