So how does a woman fall in love with her body?

Here are five sure ways for you to fall in love with your body or, at the very least, embrace your body with love:

1. Love your Self:

Self-love doesn’t just happen. Like most relationships, it takes time to build a strong and unwavering relationship. Make a list of things that will build your Self-Love (or Self-Esteem since the two synchronize). If you come up clueless, ask yourself how you show love to your children or your spouse or other members of your family. You probably show love by protecting them, standing up for them, speaking kindly about them, etc. Do these for yourself.

2. Love your Life:

When you have a fulfilling and desirable life it has a ripple effect onto your thoughts, feelings and choices. When you are happy you naturally choose better foods and you instinctively have a desire to be more active. Discovering and creating a life that is exciting and important to you is a one-way ticket to body love!

3. Love your Feelings:

When we connect with and embrace our feelings without judgment we allow ourselves to FEEL. Regardless of what our feelings may be, they are there to reveal something to us and we need to listen. If we allow our children to express their feelings and we validate them and nurture them, why not give ourselves the same care and attention? Listen to your feelings and respond to them accordingly; they are your inner voice.

4. Love your Relationships:

Strong relationships offer us a place to fall when we have difficult days. There are days when we can’t see our own greatness; we are somehow temporarily blocked. It is wonderful to have people in our lives that we can turn to who will hold the truth for us when we can’t do it for ourselves. Examine your relationships. Ask yourself if you have people like this in your life. Do they love you unconditionally? Can you screw up and they still love you anyway? And do you offer the same in return?

5. Love your Higher Power:

I write this with respect to all religions and traditional beliefs. Love and be grateful to the Higher Power greater than yourself whatever that may be for you. We are all unique and therefore so are our spiritual beliefs. When we surrender our troubles and ourselves to a Higher Power, miracles happen and transformations are inevitable. If you want to love your body ask for help and it will be given to you.

While it may be confusing how these create body love, I assure you they work. We are so much than just a body and so when we want to make any kind of change in our life a holistic perspective just makes sense. So why would it be any different when we’re seeking Body Love? It isn’t.

Journal Assignment:

Re-read the first point above. In your journal, make a list of things that will help you build your Self-Love or Self-Esteem. Think of how you show love to your children, spouse or other members of your family. Which of these things can you do for yourself as well?

When you've written down as many things as you can think of, review the list and pick out at least one thing you can practice today. (If you can practice more than one, that's great!) Review the list each day, and practice being kind to yourself.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMAN'S MAGAZINE!