How to Create a DIY Self-Love Jar

One of the most critical steps in developing a self-level practice is regularly reminding yourself of the positive thoughts and beliefs you want to embrace. One technique I highly recommend is creating and maintaining a self-love jar.

A self-love jar provides a visual and tangible reminder of your positive qualities and accomplishments. You get an emotional boost when you first add notes to the jar and pull them out to read. A self-love jar is a simple yet effective tool for tapping into self-nurturing inspiration and motivation when you need it most.

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The surprisingly enormous benefits of having a self-love jar

A self-love jar can remind you of the things you like about yourself, your achievements, and accomplishments that you are proud of. This, in turn, will help boost your self-esteem, promote positive self-talk and counteract feelings of self-doubt.

The messages in your self-love jar can help you maintain a positive outlook, allowing you to see and appreciate your true full worth and unlimited capabilities.

What is a self-love practice?

A self-love practice encompasses all activities and habits that help you regularly cultivate feelings of self-worth and acceptance. Examples of self-love practices include journaling, meditation, practicing gratitude, exercising, engaging in self-care activities, spending time in nature, and setting boundaries with others.

The key to an effective self-love practice is finding those activities, creating habits that work for you, and then incorporating those actions into your daily routine. That’s where a self-jar comes in.

What is a self-love jar?

A self-love jar is a tool you can use to practice self-love and positive self-talk. You simply write down positive affirmations, mantras, or things you appreciate about yourself on small pieces of paper and then place those self-love-filled notes in a jar.

Access your loving notes to yourself whenever you need a boost of self-love. Reading your self-love messages can remind you of the positive thoughts you want to have about yourself—the self-loving beliefs instead of the self-critical, doubting, fearful inner voice that you’ve been listening to for far too long.

You’ll find your self-love notes particularly helpful when you struggle with feelings of low self-worth, self-doubt or even self-hatred—basically anytime you need a reminder of your worth. Your self-love notes will also help you remain self-loving when your inner critic threatens your sense of peace and self-worth.

Creating and maintaining a self-love jar is a simple practice that can boost your confidence and self-esteem while helping you achieve a greater sense of self-acceptance (which is essential for your emotional health).

Examples of self-love jars

Radical self-love: love yourself (like your life depends on it)

In his book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It, Kamal Ravikant talks about how he went from uninspired, depressed and directionless to hopeful and self-loving. His simple self-love practice began by saying the simple words “I love myself” —sometimes silently to himself and sometimes out loud—over and over every day.

Ravikant would repeat that simple “I love myself” mantra hundreds, even thousands of times a day. At first, nothing seemed to change—nothing but what he was focusing on each day.

In time, Ravikant found that his self-love motto dramatically changed his life. It warmed his heart to himself and others, too — you see, people who love themselves are less likely to be unloving to others. You, too, can change your, life by changing your inner dialogue from negative and critical to positive and self-affirming— from self-neglect or self-abuse to all-out self-love.

In her book Radical Self-Love, Gala Darling says, “Radical self-love is treating yourself the way you would treat your very best, most treasured friend.” Think about what you’d say to a friend who is down for themselves. What would you say to lift them up? Those are the messages you want to include in your self-love jar.

Examples of self-affirming mantras and statements

Here are a few affirmations and mantras you might consider placing in your self-jar (only choose those that resonate with you)

I love myself.
I am loving and lovable, and I love myself.
I accept myself unconditionally
I trust and believe in myself and my capabilities.
I am worthy of a beautiful life
I love myself, flaws and all.
I love and accept myself.
I’m enough just as I am.
I love myself—body, mind and soul.

For additional inspiration on what to say to write to yourself, check out our posts 99 Life-Changing Self-Love & Self-Esteem Affirmations and 35 Affirmations for Shifting Perspective & Changing Your Life.

Love yourself is not just a song sung by Justin Bieber

Ed Sheeran wrote the song “Love Yourself,” but Justin Beiber turned it into a hit back in 2015. Though, frankly, the directive to love yourself is pretty darn good advice.

Loving yourself is key to a number of important things, including building healthy relationships with others, achieving your goals, and improving your mental and physical health:

Your self-love jar offers reminders that help you build healthy relationships with others

When you have a strong sense of self-worth and self-love, you are less likely to accept mistreatment from others. You’re also better able to set boundaries and communicate your needs more effectively.

Your self-love jar can inspire you to set and achieve big goals your goals

When you come from a place of self-love, you’re more likely to set goals that light you up. When you believe in yourself and your abilities, you are more likely to take risks and pursue your dreams.

Loving yourself also helps you bounce back stronger from setbacks and failures. Instead of giving up on yourself, you dig deeper because you understand the strength within you. You persevere in the face of obstacles and stay focused on your goals, even when things don’t go as planned.

Your self-love jar can even help improve our mental and physical health

Self-love is associated with lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as better overall physical health. When you love yourself, you’re more likely to care for yourself better—which can extend both the quality and the length of your life.

Add thoughts, mantras, affirmations, and examples of self-loving actions you took to your self-love jar

Creating a self-love jar and filling it with your own self-loving mantras, thoughts and affirmations is an easy way to get started on this transformational life journey. Below are a few self-love templates for you to use. Simply save these images on your desktop or mobile device, then print them out so you can add your personal message to them.

You can buy a self-love jar or create one yourself

Below, you’ll see I’ve also suggested a few jars and cannister that I found on Amazon that would serve as beauiful self-love jars. As I’m on the thrifty side, these don’t cost a lot, and if you’re a Prime member, you can get them quickly without paying added shipping costs. If these don’t strike your fancy, there are more to chose from on Etsy.

If you’re on a budget or are a crafty or artistic person, I recommend creating a self-love jar that’s 100 percent unique. Make something you’re proud to keep visible on a shelf, desk, or in a prominent location where it will inspire 24/7.

Types of jars and cannisters you can use for your self-love jar (these are available on Amazon)

Self-love in five minutes or less

The beauty of the DIY self-love jar is that you can create uplifting messages to yourself in a mere five minutes or less. Other self-loving activities require far more effort.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of following through on creating your self-love jar, don’t give that inner voice with the propensity to procrastinate (an unloving behavior) a second thought. Take a few minutes today to create your self-love jar and make adding positive notes in it a part of your daily self-care routine..

Start your self-love journey or deepen your self-love practice

Your self-love jar is an excellent way to promote self-care, self-compassion and self-acceptance. Self-love is an important foundation for overall well-being and happiness, so get started on your self-love jar now—and have tons of fun on your self-love journey.