High-Five to Self-Love!

High five indeed! and it’s Jack E. Underwood Jr. research where he worked with experts to pin down a consensus definition of self-love he discovered the five core components that make self-love real and measurable in everyday life.

Self-Care

Self-care is more than bubble baths or spa days. It’s the consistent practice of nurturing your whole self — physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. It means listening to what your body and mind need and responding with care.

Self-Worth

This is the deep belief that your value isn’t tied to your achievements, failures, or what others think of you. Self-worth is about holding yourself in esteem simply because you exist.

Self-Acceptance

To practice self-love is to fully accept yourself — strengths, flaws, quirks, and all. It’s the courage to forgive yourself and still say, “I am enough.”

Self-Knowing

True self-love requires self-awareness: understanding who you are, what you need, and how you respond to life. This means turning inward with honesty and curiosity, not judgment.

Self-Regard

Borrowed from humanistic psychology, this is about treating yourself with kindness and compassion even when things go wrong. It’s being on your own side, no matter what.

As Jack Underwood put it, self-love is “a compassionate process of developing and practicing self-acceptance and self-care… an ongoing process of becoming that fosters self-awareness, self-worth, wholeness, and authenticity”.

Self-love isn’t built in a day — it’s a journey, and each of these five components has its own story. Over the next few posts, I’ll be diving deeper into each element — self-care, self-worth, self-acceptance, self-knowing, and unconditional positive self-regard. Follow along to explore how you can bring each one to life in your daily routine.

Until next time remember…To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. (Oscar Wilde) so keep going.

Love,

SLS family