For most people, life is one big battlefield. Every day you face a new struggle and you make a new victory. Just think about your life so far. How many ups and downs have you had? The good and the bad are constantly interchanging and there’s nothing we can do about it. Or is there?

When life gets hard, we tend to let the feeling of dissatisfaction take us over and take us on a road of self-hatred, bitterness or even depression. Sometimes it’s hard to fight that back and not everyone comes out the other side a winner. Still, it’s not impossible to regain your life strength and keep your chin up again. It’s tough, but there are ways to fall back in love with your own life.

The road of unconditional love is the road you want to be on. So, how can you show it every day?

Accept

The first step toward becoming a person full of love is accepting life as it is.

There’s always going to be things you have no control over and you don’t understand why they needed to happen. If you start banging your hand in order to find a logical explanation for everything, you’ll end up disappointed and miserable.

In order to practice acceptance, you need to:

• stop thinking about what could have been different
• stop feeling sorry for yourself
• forget about the past and focus on the present

We are all just tiny human beings in an endless universe and it’s not our job to find all the answers. Enjoy the present moment and accept that you don’t have the power to control the bigger plan.

Love Yourself

How can you love anyone else, if you don’t love yourself first?

Being happy with yourself is the key to leading a healthy, stable and loving life. Think of yourself as your number one person in your life. Now start working on loving that person just the way he or she is:

• tell yourself all the things which make you great
• encourage yourself to be great each day
• work on loving yourself more and more every day
• accept your imperfections as an integral part of your personality
• be yourself

The people who learn how to love themselves are happy people. Make sure to build your self-respect, confidence and appreciate all your strong and weak sides.

Grow to be a happy person and you’ll be able to show unconditional love to others every day.

Share the love

Think about all the people in your life who you truly and utterly love. It could be a short list or it could be a dozen people. It doesn’t matter.

When was the last time you told them you loved them?

I thought so.

Here’s what I suggest:

• call them
• tell them you love them
• tell them why they make your life better and happier

Psychologists say that sharing your honest love for someone is one of the most rewarding feelings there are. So go ahead, reward yourself and your loved ones.

Learn to do it more often and let it become an essential part of your communication with the ones you love.

Learn to forgive

Holding grudges is no different from feeding your body with negative emotions. If you keep the negativity inside, it will grow until it breaks you.

This is why you need to learn how to let go.

There are people who are going to insult you, trick you, hurt you and leave you shattered. Pick up the pieces, and walk away.

Do not suppress your emotions. On the contrary, deal with them. It means you have to:

• process the negativity
• allow yourself to be hurt
• put it all behind you

Learn how to forgive and how to purify your emotions.  Once you’re free from all that’ negative, you can continue radiating positivity and make room for beautiful motions to fill your heart.

Do something selfless

We live in a world where you can find someone in need of help, kindness, and love wherever you go. Find that someone and share your love.

You can do charity work or volunteer in organizations fighting to make other people’s lives better.

So, take your pick:

• donate money
• donate clothes and shoes
• help organize charitable events
• give shelter to animals
• share your love with everyone in need of it

Don’t make your love reserved strictly for your closest friends or your family. Share it, give it and don’t ask for anything in return.

Appreciate the little things

I think we can agree that life isn’t about the grand gestures or incredible happenings. Life is not a fairy tale but it is a place full of beauty and kindness. We just need to learn how to recognize it.

Make sure to find something to be happy about and grateful for every day:

• a phone call from your sister
• your dog doing something silly
• your favorite chocolate
• an afternoon in the park
• a nice gesture from a stranger

The true essence of life is to be able to smile about the little things. If you still haven’t had your smile of the day, go ahead and find it. It could be hiding behind the episode of your favorite TV show or on the swing in your backyard.

Choose to be happy about the little things, and you’ll choose a life full of love and joy.

Conclusion

Martin Luther King said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Your life is going to make you crawl at some point but just make sure you believe you can run again. Surrounding yourself with love is the best thing you can do. @Kristenwendys (Click to Tweet!)

It has the strength to pick you up and lift you high above the ground.

So, what do you say? Are you ready to start changing your mindset and showing unconditional love every day? Make sure to let me know what is it that you do to find the love inside you and who do you share it with.

Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. She does her voodoo regularly on the Pick Writers blog and occasionally contributes to other educational platforms. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors.

Image courtesy of Constantinos Panagopoulos.