Hi,

Wow! Congratulations for coming this far! You’ve made through almost two weeks of course and you’re doing great! Haven’t read all the emails? Haven’t done all the exercises? That’s okay, you’ll always have these to reference and come back to again.

I think today is a great day to take a few moments to acknowledge your dedication and commitment to yourself. You knew you wanted something different in your life and you chose to stop looking out there for it. You knew that the answer was inside of you all along and you signed up! I hope you’re as proud of yourself as I am.

While Self Love is about loving ourselves it’s also about making sure our needs are met. We talked about this before over the last two weeks but today we’re going to take it a step further. Today we’re going to get our needs met by someone else.

This may sound scary and uncomfortable for you but then that’s probably a good thing. While we want to get most of the love we need from ourselves we still need and deserve to be loved by others. Most of the time we hope, expect, and rely on others to love us the way we want and if it doesn’t turn out that way we become victimized.

Today, we’re going to take matters in our own hands and in a “self” loving way receive it from someone else. To make it easier on ourselves we’re going to want to identify someone we feel very comfortable with. It could be a partner, a friend, or even a close relative. Think of who that might be now and move on to today’s exercise.

Step 1: Ask someone to appreciate something about you. It could be as simple and direct as, “Would you be willing to appreciate something about me?"

Step 2: (Important) Do not give them an appreciation back unless they directly ask for it.

Step 3: Allow that appreciation to sink in. Notice any resistance to receiving it and do your best to let that resonate deep within you.

Step 4: Thank them and let them know how much that meant to you.
I understand this can be very uncomfortable for you and as with any exercise you’re at choice. However, this exercise alone can do so much towards your own growth that I highly encourage you to practice this.

In Step 2, I mentioned not to appreciate them back. The reason I did this was because this is about you asking for and receiving love. It’s not about you giving love to another. I really want you to focus on loving yourself and that includes allowing others to love you.

In the unlikely even someone says No to you that can be challenging. Although, you may have some feelings about that, not all is at a loss. It’s very loving of yourself just to ask for that. So the very fact that you asked is actually Self Love. That’s what you showing up for you looks like!

I’m proud of you!

Big Hugs,

Josh