Embracing the Journey Within: The Power of Journaling For Self-Love and Self-Compassion

My whole life I’ve struggled to love and accept myself for who I am. From a young age, I believed that in order to be lovable, I had to be someone entirely different than who I was. Unfortunately, I am not alone in this struggle. So many people have difficulty discovering who they truly are, let alone loving their true selves.. 

Many of us weren’t taught how to love ourselves. Instead, we were only taught how to love others. It’s no wonder we are constantly seeking love, approval, affirmation, and validation from others, instead of from within. The question is, if we haven’t been taught to focus on our relationship with ourselves, how do we begin to love ourselves?

In this post I will share how journaling has helped me to begin loving, accepting, and honoring myself, and how it can support you in doing the same.

WHAT IS SELF-LOVE?

Before we dive in to how journaling can support you on your self-love journey, let’s define the term self-love. 

Self-love is caring about your own well-being and accepting yourself as you are, without judgment.  People who have self-love treat themselves with kindness, compassion, respect, and grace. They nurture themselves, giving themselves what they need to be healthy emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Self-love is often described as treating yourself the way you would treat a loved one if they were having a difficult time. For example, if a friend was having a hard time at work, you would listen to them, validate their feelings, show empathy and understanding. This is the compassion, love, and grace we easily extend to others, but rarely extend to ourselves. Instead, we often disregard or downplay our true feelings, are overly critical of ourselves, and blame ourselves for things that are out of our control. Self-love is cultivated by discovering who you truly are. 

Sometimes when people hear the term self-love, they think of someone who is egotistical and believes they are perfect and better than everyone else. When I struggled with self-esteem and self-worth, this was my belief as well, but on my healing journey I have learned the truth:. people who have self-love don’t think they are perfect. Instead they acknowledge and accept both their strengths and their weaknesses.

WHAT IS SELF-COMPASSION?

Self-compassion and self-love are often used interchangeably. While they are not the same, they are closely related. While self-love has to do with whether or not you like yourself and feel that you are worthy of care, self-compassion is the ability to offer yourself forgiveness and grace. Self-compassion is cultivated by learning to be gentle with yourself and turning mistakes and missteps into lessons and wisdom.

Dr. Kristin Neff, one of the top researchers of self-compassion, describes self-compassion as having three elements: self-kindness, mindfulness, and common humanity.

Self-kindness involves being supportive towards yourself and offering yourself unconditional acceptance. 

Mindfulness involves being aware and accepting of your present experience. 

Common humanity involves the recognition that everyone struggles, suffers, and makes mistakes.

WHY ARE SELD-LOVE AND SELF-COMPASSION IMPORTANT?

Now that we know what self-love and self-compassion are, let’s discuss 5 reasons why they are essential to our well-being.

1. Higher Resilience
2. Self-Efficacy
3. Self-Confidence
4. Setting Boundaries
5. Empathy

According to The Resilience Institute, “resilience is a learnable capability that enables you to adapt to challenges and difficulties flexibly. People who are resilient not only recover better from adversity, but they also feel more engaged, inspired and even improve their performance through flow.” 

Higher Resilience

So how do self-love and self-compassion cultivate higher resilience? They help you to view challenges and mistakes as opportunities for growth versus reasons to be self-critical. By being able to offer yourself compassion, you understand that everyone struggles, and can be gentle with yourself when needed. This allows you to move through challenges with more grace and ease, which builds higher resilience over time.

Self-Efficacy

Self-love and self-compassion are important because they help to develop self-efficacy. A big part of self-efficacy is believing in your ability to be successful. When you love and respect yourself, it is much easier to believe in your capabilities,  push yourself out of your comfort zone, and embrace healthy risk-taking. Having self-love also makes you want the best for yourself, which is another component of self-efficacy. Self-compassion helps us to be gentle with ourselves when taking risks doesn’t pay off the way we hoped they would, making it easier for us to dust ourselves off and try again.

Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is also heavily impacted by our level of self-love. The ability to love, respect, honor, and accept ourselves without judgment makes it easier for us to feel confident about who we are. 

Setting Boundaries

Jeffrey Borenstein, the President of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, believes that “Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others.”

The more love you develop toward yourself, the easier it will become for you to set boundaries that support your overall wellbeing. Self-love helps you to honor and respect your feelings, needs, and wants by saying no when it is right for you. Having self-love also helps you to listen to your intuition, or your gut, when it lets you know if something is in your best interest.

Empathy

Self-love and self-compassion are also essential for your wellness because they support you in learning more about yourself, your thoughts and emotions.  Developing this self-awareness will support you in being able to offer empathy, or understand the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of others. Having a strong sense of empathy can support you in deepening your relationships with others because you will be better able to understand them and offer them the support they need when they are struggling.

DOES JOURNALING INCREASE SELF-LOVE AND SELF-COMPASSION?

Journaling is one of the most powerful and accessible tools that can help you develop self-love and self-compassion. Creating intentional time to bring your pen to the page gives you the opportunity to remind yourself how amazing, special, and resilient you are. Journaling also supports you in discovering who you are and what you need. As you learn more about yourself, you will also gain clarity on how to care for yourself in the most responsive and restorative ways and create self-care rituals that are right for you. 

JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR SELF-LOVE

While free writing in your journal can be beneficial, using journaling prompts for self-love and self-compassion can be especially helpful. Below are some journal prompts to get you started on your self-love and self-compassion journey.

• What does self-love mean to you?
• What do you love about yourself?
• List three of your strengths and how they positively impact others.
• How do you tend to yourself? Set an intention to do one thing just for you this week.
• When do you feel most confident?
• What makes you special?
• Looking at myself with kind eyes…
• How can you offer yourself more compassion?
• Write a promise to yourself.
• What ideas, beliefs, or habits do you need to release to love yourself fully?
• Write a letter to yourself, offering yourself love, compassion and forgiveness.
• What challenges have you overcome?
• How did those challenges impact you?
• What are the words you need to hear?

Download your free copy of my Self-Love Journaling Prompts.

Interested in more journaling prompts? Here are 7 different types of journal prompts to add some creativity to your journaling practice.

CULTIVATING SELF-LOVE AND SELF-COMPASSION IS A PRACTICE

Self-love and self-compassion are essential for your wellbeing, but don’t worry if loving  yourself is challenging. Self-love and self-compassion can both be developed through the practice of journaling. Using journaling prompts like the ones I shared in this post can kick-start your self-love and self-compassion journey.

My feminine embodiment journey has transformed my capacity to hold space for myself during challenging moments. Interested in 1:1 feminine embodiment coaching to support you on your self-love journey? I’d love to speak with you about how we could work together to help you reach your goals. Schedule a free 30 minute clarity call to see if we would be a good fit.