2. Language, Communication, Self-love. Today we explore how our language, communication style and self-love, affects how we feel about ourselves and others. Self-Love is not about having a chip on your shoulder or being owed anything. Self-Love is about respect, worth, value and kindness. How you speak, the language you use about yourself and others and the way in which you communicate it says a lot about how much self-respect, self-worth, value and kindness you have for yourself. Take a moment and observe the monkey chatter going on in your head right now. One way that I have found to reduce the amount of monkey chatter is to remove the words that express doubt and blame. I would, should, could, maybe, don’t, can’t, won’t, etc. Replace these words with I will, can, do, no, yes, etc. Associate feelings with the words. I will do this and it and I feel proud of achieving that. You can implement this into your everyday life and into everything you do. Tip: Most importantly is to associate the action with feeling, physical movement and have fun with it! The brain releases good hormones when we add movement to the action. This in turn creates good feelings and you instinctively remember each and every time you undertake that activity. This is muscle memory. A simple action is to take pride in yourself and your achievements. This can be how you do the housekeeping, a tidy workspace, a walk, cook, etc. When you say to yourself I feel good when I do this, you create more self-love. Importantly is to not beat yourself up about anything at all. If you find that you do this a lot it is because you have negative language and have not communicated your intentions clearly. Write yourself or someone else a note, this will also work. Honey, I love it when you kiss me hello when you come home each day. Put it in your kids lunch box, your partners bag, briefcase. Communication is so important, not only the way in which you use it towards yourself but the other people in your life or come across every day. Remove all words that add blame, assumption, suspicion, judgement and anger from your language. Replace with words that describe, support, value, respect and give information. Example. Your children or partner are not helping you. Describe the situation with a few words. I’m getting dinner ready, now. I feel appreciated when you set the table. I feel loved when you listen to how I feel. I feel proud and happy when you play with your siblings nicely. I feel valued and supported because we share the responsibilities. It may take some time to get this happening routinely, but when you do you will feel amazing and have more harmonious relationships with everyone. Remember to have fun with it!