text: Over the years Obi Somto has wowed us all with breathtakingly beautiful images from iconic weddings to memorable fashion moments. However, recently he has been on a journey of self-rediscovery. He takes his time out to tell us about self love and why it is so important.
  Self-love, defined as "love of self" or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage". It has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness, synonymous with amour propre, conceitedness, egotism, narcissism. According to Google, Love is complex. A mix of emotions, behaviours, and beliefs associated with strong feelings of affection, protectiveness, warmth, and respect for another person. Self love is a mix of emotions, behaviours, and beliefs associated with strong feelings of affection, protectiveness, warmth, and respect for self. Self love is saying yes when you need to say yes and no when you need to say no to yourself. It’s simply taking care of your needs and treating them as a priority.
  Most would argue that self love is selfishness and a moral, but if you think about it. How can you pour from an empty cup? The more full your cup is, the more you can give and keep giving. There is nothing selfish about that. How do you love yourself you might ask? By taking care of yourself. Physically and mentally and guarding your space jealously. Minding what you allow into your body (food) your mind (your thoughts, external visuals and audio).
  With food, think of your body as a luxury high performance car. You’re not gonna put cheap engine oil into it, or roadside dirty fuel, you’d go the extra length to get premium oils and fuel, wouldn’t you? That’s if you want it to perform optimally anyway, the cheap stuff will still work, but your car won’t perform optimally and will most likely lead to damage. Now think of your body like that, akonuche. Eat only the best foods, as much raw and unprocessed whole food as possible. Include nuts, fruits, grains, and vegetables into your diet and have your body thank you.
  Like you would warm your car every now and then if you do not use it regularly to prevent the engine from going bad, you exercise your body as often as you can. 30mins to an hour a day is just fine and that’s 2%-4% of your day. You may argue that you do not have time, but can you really afford to not take care of the engine that takes you through this journey of life? It’s the only one you’ve got remember. You don't have to do anything gehn gehn, a 30mins walk/run/skipping rope or a light yoga session will do the job. As you respect and care for your body, do the same for your mind, curate the content that goes into it. The people and the words they say to you, the thoughts you allow to linger on.
  Catch yourself whenever you think negative thoughts and quickly replace them with positive ones. The more you do this, the less negative thoughts arise and watch yourself thrive and flourish. Just like you work out your body in the gym to build/tone muscles and lose fat, you can do the same for your mind. If you thought meditation, you are spot on!
  Meditation is an exercise for the mind. The more you meditate, the stronger your mind gets, the more in control you are of the thoughts that cripple or energise you. I don’t need a fortune teller to tell me which thoughts you’d rather have more of.Self love, is taking care of yourself as a whole, mentally and physically. The things you do, say, and allow into your body and mind.
  Start to pay attention and take deliberate actions to love ourselves more. What the world needs today is more whole and healthy people. Start with yourself give it a try and be intentional about it. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup; you can’t give what you don’t have. Take care of and love yourself, that way you would be in a better position to take care of and love other people better.