The Importance of Love and 5 ways to get more of it

I’m so excited to introduce Christina Rizzo, a relationship coach on a mission to help men and women create loving relationships with themselves. I am excited to have her as a guest blogger on my site. I hope you enjoy her post as much as I did! I’m always in need of more love! Christina helps people achieve their dreams, go for their goals, and find freedom from their stumbling blocks and limiting beliefs using love, enthusiasm, a smidge of magic and a lot of hard work. Gotta have more? Connect with Christina at: www.thechristinarizzo.com and get FREE access to Christina’s guide: 10 easy steps to go from self-deprecating negativity to empowered confident action.

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Isn’t love grand and amazing! It makes us feel warm inside and as if we matter in this world. But when we are lacking love we feel out of sorts, lonely, sad, and even bitter. Today I am going to talk about ways you can create more love in your life, so those moments of warmth and amazingness are a daily occurrence. BUT, there is a catch. I’m not talking about just any type of love here. Hmm. Did you think I meant romantic love? Were you hoping I was going to share ways to get more love out of your current relationship or how to get more love from a future relationship? You are right…sort of. I AM talking about getting more love out of a relationship….specifically, the relationship you have from yourself.

Yes, loving your self is sooooooo important and no, loving yourself does not mean you are selfish or have an inflated ego. It means that you value yourself. It means you only allow stellar people into your life. It means you createboundaries. It means you go after the things that matter to you and don’t put them on the back burner for someone else. I could go on and on. If your life is straight crazy and one shitty event after the other is occurring you gotta look inside. How are your treating yourself? As women, it can be even more difficult to love ourselves. We have been conditioned in so many ways to think we have to be self-sacrificing and put others ahead of our own needs. I have been there and I am still working on this myself. I have come very far from the extreme people pleaser I used to be, but changing patterns takes time!

If this is sounding all too familiar I got you covered! Below are 5 really easy ways to bring more self-love into your world. Once you start demanding love for yourself those negative people and situations will start to fall away. We will always have to deal with difficult life situations to some extent, but you will have a better support system, you will have a better outlook, and you will have better resources to help handle anything that comes your way…just because you love and care about yourself. Oh and let me not forget to mention that if you love yourself then you will ATTRACT a more suitable and fulfilling relationship into your life. You will stop going for those “bad boys.” Already in a relationship? When you focus on taking care of you and not on what the other person is lacking your relationship will naturally improve or you will realize that it is not the relationship for you after all.

Use these tips below how you see fit. Some you will love….some not so much. I challenge you to use each of these five tips over the next 14 days and then at the end reflect on how your life has changed and decide to keep them all or keep the ones you like the most.

Five ways to develop a deeper & more loving relationship with yourself:

1. Begin using a Daily Mantra. This is my personal favorite! Use any word or phrase you want. One I use often: I am not the struggle. I state this in the morning when I wake up before my day even begins, because it shifts my brain out of a negative energy. Through all of my inner work I came to realize that my brain feeds off of being someone that struggles and overcomes it. This is NOT who I want to be anymore, which is how that mantra came to be. Maybe struggle isn’t your thing. Your mantra can be anything that fits where you are now. Here are a few more: Today I will hustle. I will listen to my intuition. Negative energy and people will be repelled from my life. Pick anything that fits and then repeat upon rising and throughout the day as a reminder. It is easy to get off course when we are forming a new pattern.
   
2. Be careful who you hang with. Remember the phrase: Misery loves company? If you are spending all your time surrounded by people filled with drama and negativity you are going to fall into those same thought patterns. Remove yourself from that situation by limiting the amount of time you spend with them. Seek out new people already where you want to be. Look for and become friends with people that stay mostly positive (I say mostly, because we all have our hard days). Not sure how to do this? See tip number 5!
   
3. Exercise in a way you enjoy. Exercising may suck to you (it definitely does for me), but it is still really good for you. Not only is it helpful for your body, but it is also awesome for your mental state. That being said, don’t run just to get exercise if you hate running. Seek out the sort of exercise you enjoy….dancing, bike riding, walking. It doesn’t have to be intense, and it doesn’t have to be long. 5-10 minutes of being active will have an uplifting benefit. Any sort of exercising is going to help you and release those happy feel good endorphins. I enjoy exercising in the morning after waking up the most. It really sets my day off right. I’m in a good mood and I make better food choices throughout the day. My favorite exercise option in the morning is anything by Casey from blogilates.com. She’s amazing!
   
4. Spend time….alone. By yourself. All. Alone. Being alone is the best way to sort through your feelings, clear your mind, and get refreshed. It is the best way to figure out what aspects of your life you want to change and how to go about changing it. When we spend all our time with other people, it never forces us to deal with ourselves. Take a day and just be by yourself without any distractions. Over time you will find this quiet is refreshing and not as terrible as it may seem to you now.
   
5. Go after a long forgotten goal or seek out a new hobby. We all are passionate about something. As we get older and have to work that 9-5, pay bills, and take care of families, it is easy to forget about that passion. What is a goal or dream of yours that still lingers in the back of your mind?   I challenge you to break it out again. Seeking out new opportunities and working on long forgotten goals are an easy way to bring more positive people into your life. If you enjoy traveling and start to do that again you will meet awesome people in your adventures. Whitney loves Crossfit and takes part in those classes several times per week. Through Crossfit, she has met many wonderful like-minded people! Whitney enjoys spending her time with them even outside of the gym. Whatever it is that you love and enjoy, bring it back out and seek out opportunities to meet people with those same interests and passions as you. Sound scary? Walking into a new situation where you do not know anyone is only scary the first time, because you don’t know what to expect. Be brave. Be bold. You won’t regret it!
   

Now it is your turn, Comment below or on Whitney’s FB page when you try these out. We want to hear from you!! If you heart these tips and want to hear more, head on over to my Facebook page and click on the Like button!

XO, Christina

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I hope you have an amazing Wednesday (it is hump day, ya know!)! And enjoy your 4th of July holiday weekend! I’m heading to Charleston, SC to visit family and the beautiful city I call home!

With love and wellness (and always in need of more self-love!!),

Whitney