I love February! There's a certain kind of joy that overflows in my heart knowing that January, the longest month of the year, is finally over. When February rolls around, I admit it, I totally buy into the Valentine's Day marketing schemes. So in the spirit of the month of love, here the powerful question my best friend and I ask each other to inspire self-love:

"Would you say the negative things you say about yourself to me?"

This one, simple question has the power to immediately stop us on our path to self-hate. This was a question inspire by an inspiring video created by two best friends who struggled with body image issues. They each wrote down the things they hate most about themselves and they read them out loud, as if they were saying them about each other. It was hard to watch, as they said such mean and degrading comments about themselves. I have to admit, the first time I watched this video, some of the comments they made were things I thought about my own body. Hearing those words said out loud, and towards someone else, really made me think. Would I say this about my best friend? Would I ever want her to feel as if she's anything but beautiful, strong and capable? Absolutely not.

When I think about my best friend, I am overwhelmed with love for her. I can immediately think of countless reasons why I love her. Think about your best friend. I bet you can easily come up with a whole list of the reasons you adore them.and reasons they should love themselves! When you think about the ample amount of love in your heart for your person, it seems kind of silly that there are days when you can't seem to say one nice thing about yourself.

"I can't do anything right"

"I'm so stupid"

"I look so gross"

Dive deep into the the way you criticize yourself. Whatever harsh thoughts or statements you aim at yourself daily, it's time to cut them out. We say the same things about ourselves day in and day out that it becomes somewhat of a routine. I want to challenge you to think about how capable you are to love your best friend so freely. You deserve that love from yourself, too. You wouldn't say such hurtful things to your best friend. Please be a friend to yourself.