Self-love rarely begins with feeling confident. It begins when you stop treating yourself like a problem and start meeting yourself with patience. Here are three simple, grounded practices to help you build a more compassionate relationship with yourself.

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A cracked blue heart resting on a textured surface with warm golden light shining through the fractures, symbolizing vulnerability, repair, and emotional growth.

Many of us learned to push past our own signals to keep the peace or meet expectations. This piece explores how we drift away from ourselves, how the body communicates what the mind overlooks, and how small, honest choices help us return to what actually supports us.

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A close-up photograph of a woman’s face focusing on her green eyes in warm natural light, with soft details of her skin and hair visible.

Before I worked with adults, I was a preschool special education teacher. Those early years taught me how to notice the small but meaningful shifts that matter in somatic and mindfulness work today.

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Bright crayons in a yellow holder with a preschool-aged child coloring in the blurred background.