In today's episode we are chatting about ways that you can love yourself better! There is a lot of ways you can show yourself self love physically, but there is one way that I have found in loving myself that has proved to grow good fruits. That is self-love in the form of taking care of your soul. I hope today's message reshapes the way you think about self love.
Connect with me as you journey on in your mindset transformation! Now offering life coaching as a service, click the link below to get schedule a call with me.
In today's episode we are chatting about ways that you can love yourself better! There is a lot of ways you can show yourself self love physically, but there is one way that I have found in loving myself that has proved to grow good fruits. That is self-love in the form of taking care of your soul. I hope today's message reshapes the way you think about self love.
Connect with me as you journey on in your mindset transformation! Now offering life coaching as a service, click the link below to get schedule a call with me.
I'm excited to connect with you! Remember, you can do hard things! "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me"- Philippians 4:13
*Affiliated with Painting Miracles, INC & Certified Life Coach through the I-A.M System
Hey friend, welcome to the Restored Mind Podcast, where we are going to be talking about various life topics surrounding mindset transformations. These topics are coming from a faith lens and will propel you into a life of peace and joy. My name is Caroline, wife, mom of three, daughter of the one true king. Host of this podcast and certified life coach through the I am system by Painting Miracles Incorporations. My hope is that this podcast brings God's light into your life and you break free from the chains that are holding you back. Friend, it is time to shift your mindset into one that will help you flourish. Ready? Let's go. Hello and welcome to the restored mind podcast. My name is Caroline, my friend. I'm so happy that you are here. I'm so excited to dive into today's episode. We're talking about how to love yourself better, but first I have to give you a proper welcome. If you are a new listener, welcome to the restored mind family. I don't know how you got here. What prompt you to click on this episode? But I'm just happy that you are here. I don't think it was by mistake. I do hope that this episode is encouraging you to look to God, to be in a light in your day. If you are a returning listener, thank you so much that you take the time out of your week. To come back and listen in on each episode that I release every week. So last week we talked about the rebranding of the restored mind. In that episode, I shared with you why the restored mind went through a rebranding process and what has changed and also what is staying the same. So everything is shared in that episode. If you missed it, it is a really, really good one. So go check it out. Along with that. I also shared with you a short message. On keeping God first when chasing your goals, because all month long, we've been talking about how to keep your new year resolution, or really just how to keep your goal period. Without losing momentum and quitting altogether. So this message on keeping God first was the final message that I delivered so that you can keep it in mind for 2024. And even beyond this, as you navigate into the journey that you are in. All right. So is it just me or has January been one of the longest months of the year? And I get it it's the first month of the year, but I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the weather, if it's just the events that's happened this month alone, or maybe it's just because there's five weeks in January, this year. But it just feels like January has lingered. On for a little too long. And so I decided that I'm just going to kickstart in the celebration of closing the end of the month by starting. into the next series that I have, and it is going to be about love because February is known to be the month of love, which I thought would be a great time to talk about all things that is pertaining to this particular topic. So I'm going to be doing another mini series on love. We're going to be talking about love from different perspectives. Loving yourself is today. How to love yourself better. I can't wait to dive into that with you, but before I do. Going to pause here because I have to share with you. On the episode that I released last year about loving yourself I broke it down into two parts. part one highlights if loving yourself is selfish. Whereas part two talks about how to love yourself when you have a negative mindset. And I share with you my experience and both of these but these two in particular, Can probably help you better understand where I'm coming from with how to love yourself better. if you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend that you go and check it out but I hope. That's this one combined with the other two is going to give you a better understanding on self. Love. So, what does loving yourself look like? Well, for me, self-love is caring for your soul. It is completely different from loving your flesh. And the flesh, I think about pampering sessions. So getting nails done, which I hardly ever do, I do keep them somewhat maintained, but I don't particularly go to a nail salon to get my nails done. And also I think about hair appointments, which. I do go pretty pretty often. Every three to four months, I do go and see my stylist for a touch-up in color and a trim. And then also I think about shopping because that's something that I used to do as a way to show myself self love, because I felt like I needed something new. And even working out is a way for me to show myself self love, which I'm going to touch on later on in this episode. So the question is, are these things bad? And my honest answer is no, I don't think that self-love in the form of physical things are bad per se. But it also isn't something that I personally believe we should put above God, Which was last week's. Encouragement anyway is to not put anything above God, not even our goals or ourself. We are in the business of putting him first above all things. And that is the mindset that we want to be in. So yes, girlfriends, go get your nails done. Go get your hair fixed. Go and work out and do something that is yes. Going to make you feel good. But keep in mind that when you love yourself in the flesh, doing things in the flesh, it is very temporary. Yes. It makes us feel good, but this feel good feeling. will eventually dissipate or end and it becomes very temporary because then you find yourself doing it again. And again, And again, So we have to be careful not to become obsessed with our flesh self. And I am reminded of what Solomon writes in the book of Ecclesiastes. That everything is vanity. everything that we are doing in the flesh for ourself to show us self-love is vanity. So me working out The physical aspect of it is vanity purposes. Because eventually it's going to fade away. and that's why I believe. A good way to love yourself better is to care for your soul because in the soul, the action that we take reflects how God is working in us and through us. So by actions, I mean, what are we saying to ourselves? Are we in our inner dialogue being negative and thinking about how we are limiting ourselves to what we believe we can do. Are we comparing ourselves to someone else or maybe we're comparing other people to us. It's what we allow in our mind to believe. So the mindset that we are in, and we are either going to be in a growth mindset or in a fixed mindset. A growth mindset is someone who believes that they can change. Whereas a fixed mindset is someone who believes that they're just set in their ways. I have an episode on why mindset matters. If you are new here, I highly recommend going to check that out. Especially if you are new. In your mindset, transformation journey. When I loved myself more than I did my soul, I became more and more selfish. Why? Because I put myself first, it was about me and my me time or my feelings and my thoughts. It was all about me. And so I became easily triggered by what someone would say or really what I would read in scripture, because I didn't quite understand it. The perfect example that I can think of right now is a verse that comes from Ephesians, where Paul writes and says that wives are to submit to their husbands. I used to. Have such a negative mindset towards this verse, because I didn't want to submit to anyone. I used to think to myself. I am my own person. So why should I let my husband walk all over me and make all the decisions for me? I have the free will to do what I please. So I'm going to do it because I am at me. And that was the mindset that I was in for a very long time. And I've been married for 11 years, this April now. So. For nearly 10 years, I was struggling with this verse to truly understand it. And then to live it out, that is a completely different journey on its own. Which my friend, yes. It was pretty bad, but thank goodness for the blood of Jesus over that mindset. And if you're wondering, am I going to elaborate more on this particular verse and my journey with it? Yes, I am. Because I believe that it is imperative that as wives, we do learn to submit to our husbands the way that. Jesus submitted to God. Yes. I said it. Yes, if you're wondering, I am definitely going to be talking about this in next week's episode. So I invite you my friend, if you are interested, and this is something that is right up your alley. As a newlywed, as someone who just got engaged, someone who's in a serious relationship, or even someone who is married and struggling. To find peace within your marriage or really within yourself. I invite you to come and listen on next week's episode, it's going to be such a good one. All right. So I know I got off topic here. But I was talking about loving in the flesh, right. What I experienced when I was loving my flesh more than my soul, when I was loving and my flesh more, it actually made it easier for me to hide behind. The parts of me that weren't so nice. so it created the perfect barrier for me to not want to own up to my own mistakes. I did not own up to my own mistakes because. I ended up loving myself more. So of course I took my own side. Right. I mean, it only makes sense. But that hindered me from taking action. And working towards a healthier mindset and lifestyle, it was so much easier to deflect and place blame on the things and the people around to me, instead of me having to own up to my own mistakes and own up to my own bad habits, if you will. that would essentially stop me from reaching my greatest potential. It created the perfect environment to live behind the comparison mindset. Which also was a double edged sword because some days I felt good for being quote better than someone else, or I was either dragged down. By what I saw when someone was doing better than me. And it was a vicious cycle that just honestly took so much energy to live in that kind of a mindset. Loving the soul changes, everything it truly does because this is when true healing happens. When you invite Jesus into your space, this is going to be the best decision that you make when you apply what you learn in just reading the Bible. And you use that in your everyday life. It is going to be the best step that you can take and restoring your mind and changing your attitude and your mindset. And you might be asking. Okay. So how do I do all of this? How do I love myself? Better, Caroline? What does I look like? Well, my friend, I've got a couple of things here for you today. The first and most important one is to Love God first, because that is going to be how you ultimately love yourself better. In Joshua 22 5, it says. Only be very careful to observe the commandments and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord, your God, and to walk and all of his ways. And to keep his commandments and cling to him and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Jesus talks about this and the gospel as well. It is known as the greatest commandment. The action words in this verse that came to mind was walk. Keep cling and serve to walk. Are the physical steps taken. So in prayer and application and reading the Bible, plugging yourself into a small group or a church, hopefully the people that you surround yourself with is going to help you grow in that. And A simple reminder for you is to not rely solely on small groups or the church to help grow you in your faith journey. A portion of that is also. Up to you. So how are you growing? A relationship with God is going to deeply reflect the growth that you end up having, because it is an intimate relationship that you build with him and the people that you end up plugging yourself around. They are the ones that are. There as a guidance, so to speak, they are there to help you, but not necessarily grow you. but that's your lane that you're in. I hope that makes sense. So the word keep is also one that came to mind. I think about binding or taking in or really holding close. that's how I would describe keep. And that could mean anything from taking the time. and letting scripture marinate into your mind or reciting and learning a verse.. It could also mean spending time with what sticks out to you while you're reading. I think it really good way of doing this would be to journal whatever it is that sticks out to you. write that down and. Marinate on that. Look at the words and how it is written for me, I journal whatever I read. that's why I'm sharing this with you as like, I guess how I do it. But you find what works for you. And so for me, just journaling, what sticks out to me, the thoughts that come to my mind and also other verses that I can compare it to is also very helpful in this time When I'm interacting with what I'm reading. keeping it. In your mind and in your thoughts throughout the day is also a good way of binding God's words to your heart. And keeping it close to you. And then there's the word cling? Right. So cling is to hold onto it's to trust. That's what comes to mind. cling equals trust. And I think about a child or a baby. Clinging on to their parents when they're around new people or at events, they're unsure of what's going on around them. So they cling on to their parents because. They trust that their parent is not going to leave them. Which makes me think about myself and how I am clinging onto the Lord. So I have to ask you my friend. Are you clinging on to the Lord today is your trust in him to hold you in the midst of whatever is going on in your daily life. And then the last word I have here is serve. To serve is to reflect God's love into the world. It is the heartbeat of Jesus's ministry when he was here on earth. I'm thinking about what Jesus washed the disciples feet. And he said, what I am doing to you do to other people. I'm definitely paraphrasing that, but it is how he set the example for us. He taught us and shared with us how to live our life accordingly so that we can love. God. And we love God so that we can love others as ourself. So, yes, love God first above all things, and then love your life, but not in a boastful way or in a conceited way. there's many things that you can do to create this better lifestyle. Which would be healthier habits. What healthy habits can you improve on? Maybe it is keeping yourself active. That might not look like a full blown exercise. Maybe it's an evening walk after work. Maybe it is. Three times a week where you're going into the gym. Whatever it is that you're doing, make it at habit to do it consistently. And then build upon that when you can. Another healthy habit is getting into a rhythm of sleeping and resting. Well, I know that it can be hard for a lot of us in this area for many reasons. But I still encourage you to do what you can or find your routine that you can stick with. Nutrition also plays a big role in how you can often feel internally. And I'm not here to tell you what you should or should not eat. I'm definitely not an expert in that field. But I do have to say that nutrition does play a big role in how we feel. it all boils down to this at the end of the day. How do you want to feel overall? How we speak to ourself. Which is something that I touched on earlier is also a good way of how to. Love your life better. There is a such thing as an inner dialogue where we speak to ourself about ourself. Or the things that we see and hear around us. They are known as our thoughts and my friend, if you do not take control of your thoughts, it'll take control over you. Trust me. Been there done that do not recommend it. Loving your soul is a great way on how to love yourself better, which was the main message of today's topic. Anyway. Loving yourself taking care of your soul, changes everything. My friend. Your soul is the heartbeat of how you feel if your soul is sick and filled with negative thoughts. So will your action your attitude, It's a whole cycle. It really is really take the time to uproot any weeds that have taken root in your heart and replace it with good, positive truths that scripture tells you and let it take root in good soil. My friends loving yourself as more than just the physical things that you can do. It is more than. What you can buy for yourself or what your finances are. It is. More than your earthly treasures. Loving yourself better. It means renewing your mind to be restored so that you can be healed and transformed from what is keeping you locked up in the prison walls. The doors have already been opened for you. So it is time for you to walk out and claim restoration over your soul. Yes. I know it can be hard. There are so many things that factor into this, but to sum it up, you're absolutely right. Life is hard. But my friend, you can do hard things. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to listen in on this episode. I meant what I said. You can do hard things, so don't let the daily challenges stop you from reaching your greatest potential. If you are ready to take the next step in your journey and are finding that you are in need of help and would like someone to keep you accountable, I would love to offer you my life coaching services. Click on the link in the show notes to get started there. You will also find links to my social media pages where you're able to connect with me as well. My friends, I look forward to speaking with you again next week here on the restored mind podcast. Go in peace.