What did you say to yourself the last time you looked in the mirror?
If you do not remember, start paying attention. When you look in the mirror, what catches your eye? Where does your internal voice go? My guess is neither your eyes or thoughts immediately go to what is right when you look in the mirror. They go to what is wrong.
How do I know? Trust me. I know, because I did it too. (I’m not perfect now either, although I’m much better). It has taken me years to get over my phobia of looking in the mirror. In high school I was known amongst my friends as the one who hated mirrors. That says a lot about what I thought of myself back then.
I also know because we are all human, and the human brain likes to focus on what is wrong.
But guess what? You can train your brain to focus on love instead. You can start to love mirrors and love yourself beginning today. It can take some time, but today is the day to start. It is never too late for self-love, and it is always the right time to begin.
Click below to watch the video, or just keep reading!
You are at the perfect age, the perfect weight, the perfect hair, the perfect everything, to begin. I am going to tell you how in a second.
But first, let’s laugh at my husband, because husbands are so fun to laugh at (or with I should say).
The people in our lives who are different from us can teach us the most important lessons. For me, that is my husband. Get ready to laugh, because I have a hilarious story for you that involves a trip to Walmart.
First a little background, my husband has been on a high since our trip and our three Paul McCartney concerts! My husband always wanted to be the one who yells “I love you man!!” and Paul yells back, “I love you man!!!!” during the show. And it never happened. So this time I made my husband a sign that said “Please Say I Love You Man!” We did it on a whim hoping Paul might read the sign, even if he doesn’t read it out loud. We were hoping he would just see it. Paul not only read the sign and said “I love you man!” to my husband for the first show we went to, but he did it during the second show, and yes, the third! It just kept happening! Talk about manifesting….
Paul McCartney just kept reading that damn sign! It was crazy and exciting for us both, because obviously Paul liked this sign, and now my husband is convinced Paul McCartney loves him, and he’s not afraid to tell everyone he meets! It makes me laugh. This is the funny little happy world we live in, my husband and me, but I digress…
So back to my self-love story. Last weekend, my husband and I were self checking out at Walmart. Here is where the mirror thing comes in. Have you guys seen those cameras at the self checkout at Target or Walmart? I can look in the mirror now and practice positive self-talk, but when it comes to those cameras, I avoid them. I always think I look the WORST in those cameras, like a mug shot or something. My hair, face, whatever, it’s just a bad scene. I didn’t think anyone liked those cameras. Until I go through the self checkout with my husband.
He’s going to kill me, and I’m laughing out loud as I type this! I love when my hubby give me a blog topic!
I avoided the camera as usual, but my husband was right there in it. I looked up, and I caught him slowly mouthing something to himself, moving his lips very clearly and on purpose, “I….LOVE…..YOU…..MAN”. I about died! I totally caught my hubby telling himself that he loves himself in the Walmart self checkout camera! It was amazing. I laughed so hard. And I knew I could learn from that moment that also made me burst out laughing. That is the best kind of learning.
My husband is a total goofball, and I love him for it. But he also has so much to teach me. When he looks in the mirror, he tells himself that he loves himself. He already did this, but the Paul McCartney, “I love you man” thing just changed the saying to “I love you man”. We actually say it to each other all the time now.
But can you imagine looking at yourself in the self-check out camera and saying, “I love you” to yourself? You bet the next time I do a self checkout, I’m doing it!
I bet you can guess what your homework is!
Practice saying “I love you” to yourself in the mirror. Do not attach it to anything. Do not tell yourself that you will do amazing things (even though that is true). Do not tell yourself that you are beautiful (even though that is true too, and can come later). Just say “I love you”. Do not make it dependent on anything on the outside.
This can be hard. It can trigger emotions. This is okay. There are emotions that need to come up and be cleared. The stronger the emotions that need to be cleared, the bigger your purpose here. The more resistance, the bigger your purpose. The more you feel you are in a mess now, and the louder you ego is trying to keep you down, the bigger your purpose!
Loving yourself not because of what you do or how you look, but because of something deeper is a truer healing. I have nothing against beauty and fashion, in fact I love these things, but my self worth does not depend on them now. Neither should yours. Love yourself because you want to be happy, and not for any other reason. Let any ideas of how you should look or be go. This is healing from the inside out.
If you feel weird saying “I love you” when you look in the mirror, that is okay! You will feel weird! Do it anyway until it no longer feels weird! Do it at least 3 times a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening.
And if you struggle with this, I know a good life coach that can help you with a true lasting loving yourself type of healing! Hint hint, it’s me!
Email me at elizabeth@yourhighestlight.com.
And the next time you go through a self checkout, take a picture or video saying “I love you” to yourself and send it to me! I will do it too! WE will change the world and how we see ourselves one self checkout camera at a time!
If you struggle with “I love you” then just think of my husband’s story and say “I love you man”. It is a perfect place to start, and you can laugh too! Laughter heals and in this case can bridge the gap between avoiding something and mastering it! You can master this self-love thing! I can’t wait to hear about it!
Because I DO love you man,
Elizabeth
