Self-Love

Happy Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is a holiday often associated with showing love to the people around us. We celebrate love with the exchange of flowers, gifts and kind words towards others. Here at Owens, we encourage our clients to practice extending the concern of other’s well-being and happiness during this season, to ourselves as well! This is what we call self-love.

Self-love is a challenge. Many of us struggle with negative self-talk that over time can take a toll on our mental health. When self-love seems difficult, self-acceptance can be a beneficial skill to learn. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) offers a skill called “radical acceptance”. Radical acceptance begins with the acknowledgement and understanding of the facts about the past and present. DBT suggests that if we recognize these facts, even if they are undesirable or make us uncomfortable, we can move toward radical acceptance. Radical acceptance does not mean approval. Instead, it is the total acceptance with our mind, body and spirit that we cannot change the distressing facts right now, even if we feel negatively toward them.

Radical acceptance means working towards helping ourselves limit questions like “why me?” or “why now?” It can look like saying, “I accept my body for what it is, right now.” It may also look like, “I might not like it, but this is what has happened.” When we choose to accept what we do not have control over, we can prevent feelings of bitterness, anger and sadness.

This Valentine’s Day, try using the idea of radical acceptance when it feels difficult to give yourself love. If this sounds like something you would benefit from, talk to your therapist at Owens & Associates! We are here to help!

Our team is ready to support you in your journey!

Call/email our admin team at 847-854-4333 or admin@owenscounseling.com to schedule an appointment.