Gerry Ellen provides five daily activities that will lead you to love yourself or another. Take a drive, a deep breath and train your brain to find love.

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After all of the self-care love and the understanding of simple pleasures, how can we take our hearts to a different level to attract the love we deserve? It doesn’t have to be complicated, or full of hype and concentration—it just needs to be allowed. Allowing love to come into our hearts is probably our greatest gift, and one which we all could use a little more of in today’s world.

It’s been a rough road for many—the searching, the questions, the endless amounts of self-doubt, and the space in our bodies that always wonders if it’s possible to have the perfect love. While we may be content lingering in our comfort zones for way too long, it is absolutely okay to open up to new ways of relating, both to ourselves and to each other.

Old behaviors are being destroyed as we speak, and thank god it’s happening while we’re still active and able to appreciate the beauty in the new formations of human relationships. We are having a full-blown uprising of emotions and transformation that has taken us to the lowest of the lows, and is bringing us out to the highest of the highs.

It is by no means without the daily challenges, yet we are now called upon to have this global metamorphosis in all relationships. It’s truly a beautiful thing. “Mindfulness” is no longer some catchy word that we toss around with reckless abandon. There is a purpose to our comings and goings and words and solutions, a real reason we wake up every morning and bless the day.

If you’ve been isolated and in solitude for too long, afraid to take that step out of your cozy way of life that keeps you feeling lonely and ill-equipped to deal with partnerships and the vulnerabilities that go along with it, the following can help.

Here are some thoughtful ideas to enjoy on your own, the activities that maintain a connection to yourself and pave the way for more love:

1) Spend Time in Nature

Enough can’t be said about the serenity of practicing some kind of outdoor time in the surroundings with which we live. You don’t have to travel or vacation to bring about awareness of the outdoors, just get up from your daily stuff and take a step out the front door.

Deep breaths in the fresh air, opening the chest and heart and lungs, and going with the flow of what’s taking place in the outside world is an incredible activity in feeling love. Look up. Look around. Listen. Magic.

2) Read

I find that when I’m intensely distracted with a bazillion things, I can stick my nose in a book and have a little mini-escape from whatever it is that’s either bothering me, or something surreptitiously waiting for me. Finding a good book to read is an excellent antidote for distraction; use this activity for creating an atmosphere of self-love. It is your time and yours alone.

3) Make Dinner for You

Being a creative person and loving to cook has added benefits when it comes to entertaining in the kitchen. I love to experiment with what ingredients and spices I toss into a bowl on any given day. It shows me that I care about what goes into my body. The benefit of being healthy, coupled with the colors and tastes of quality food, makes for a wonderful self-care activity. If you can take the time to cook just for you, imagine the possibilities of cooking for other loved ones. Both show you are engaged in mindfulness and awareness.

4) Take a Road Trip

This is another area of expansion and inspiration where you can open yourself up to love. When adventure and the road calls, rising to the opportunity is an awesome way to being fully alive. It doesn’t have to be far, and road tripping doesn’t have to be for extended lengths of time; yet, when you punch the gas pedal, there is a liberated feeling of fun and excitement. Seeing different places, meeting new people, exploring new territory, it all adds up to time spent doing something worthy and soulful. Imagine bringing that elated joy to all relationships and connections!

5) Learn Something New (Every Single Day)

Give me a good, quality brain session and I’m 100 percent on board with all-things mindful. Rewiring our genetic mapping starts in the brain, and if we can transfer any new skill of either the cerebral kind, or the heart kind, then we have successfully charted pleasing waters for the ebb and flow of information of the mindful type. You have to start somewhere, and it is not reserved for the young. Any age can practice meaningful things. If your heart and mind are into it, then a passion and love will surely follow.

Use your intuition when it comes to what mindfulness activities resonate with you. The best way to gauge how you feel is the type of response elicited in your deep inner core. If it feels good, it is good. If you love doing it, more love will come to you. It is that simple.

Peace and harmony always….

 

[image via Kate Ter Haar on flickr]