What is Self Devotion and Why is it Important?

If you haven't already heard, I'm launching a course next week, and it's diving into all of my tools and practices that have gotten me to where I am today. And where exactly am I today? I live my life through the lens of self-devotion. That's why the course is called Self Devotion Foundational Tools. The term was introduced to me a year ago when I was chatting with a friend and, she pointed out that self-devotion is at the crux of who I am and what I am sharing with the world.

To me, self-devotion felt powerful. It didn't feel as fluffy as self-love but it still encompassed what I have been trying to share with the world. This term simply summed up why I live the way I do and gave me a lens through which to focus my work. Sometimes I call self-devotion radical self-love because that's what I feel like it is, but what else is it?

What is Self Devotion?

To me, self devotion is living in devotion to yourself. It is putting yourself, your soul, at the forefront of your life and not apologizing for it. It's honoring your needs, desires, and yearnings in this lifetime. It's setting boundaries and being discipline with prioritizing the things that feel good. Self-devotion is a way of being. It is more than self-love, it is fully honoring your soul. This way of being has given me purpose in life. Through the work I have done, I have gotten to a place where I have found belonging within myself.

For the majority of my life thus far, I have lived in a way that honors everyone else except for myself. I moved through life continually making myself small in order to make the people around me comfortable. I never felt safe within myself so I didn't know it was even possible to live a life for myself.

Let's get this straight...

Self-devotion does not mean you stop caring for others or the world around you. I believe you can be in devotion to many things! You can love others, care for others, honor the world, AND live in devotion to a higher power. You can do it all because we are multifaceted beings. Self-devotion does not take away your ability to put energy into other things (friends, family, work, community, etc.) but rather it simply prioritizing and carves out space within your life to honor yourself.

How to Get Into Self Devotion

So, you're like, Nikki... self-devotion sounds amazing but I feel so far away from it. Self-devotion won't happen overnight. It is a long, winding journey that likely will last your entire life. It requires patients, discipline, grace, and a lot of compassion for yourself. The first step towards self devotion for me required an interest in self-discovery.

Self Discovery is simply that: discovering yourself. It is a process of getting to know yourself beneath the surface. This can be done through self inquiry, journaling, shadow work, working with a therapist, tools such as astrology or human design, etc.

Self-discovery helped me to get to know myself. Think about when you begin dating someone…how do you get to know them? You ask questions! You spend time with them! The more time you spend with them, the more you want to be around them. The more you get to know them, the deeper you fall for them. This works for the relationship you have with yourself, too.

Little by little, one travels far

Slowly but surely, the more and more you get to know yourself; the more clearly you will be able to see yourself. It's not always easy or fun–trust me. There will be times when you hate what you are looking at or the shadows that you are facing, but each opportunity is an opportunity to soften and love yourself even deeper. There are always going to be things about yourself that you don't love. I can be really selfish sometimes and I also am extremely detached from my emotions. I'm working on both of those things but I also can see how those parts of myself have served me in some way; so I have a love for that shadow side of myself. Remember: go slowly and always give yourself grace and compassion.

So how do you actually practice self devotion?

For me, self devotion looks like self-honoring. Self-honoring is honoring your soul. It's, again, living in a way that puts yourself at the forefront of your life. IRL, that looks like, letting my intuition guide me, always prioritizing my spiritual practices, saying no when I don't want to do something, and letting go of anything (& I mean ANYTHING) that doesn't serve my highest good. Self-honoring is a practice, like self-discovery, that takes time and practice to get comfortable with.

We live in a society that does not prioritize or reward self-honoring. We are taught to doubt ourselves, do what everyone else is doing and that we will never be good enough. But I am challenging those beliefs. I wholeheartedly believe that each being in this universe has unique gifts that will help them be of service to this world. It is our responsibility to cultivate a love deep within us, discover those gifts, and become secure enough within ourselves to share those gifts within the world. But that whole process is hard. Like, super hard.

So that's why I'm here, to be a mentor on this path. My intention is to remind you of all of the truths that you are inherently worthy of so that you feel empowered to walk down this path. My course, Self Devotion Foundational Tools, goes over each of the tools and practices that I have implemented in my life (and still use) to help me walk down the path of Self Devotion. If you want to be on the waitlist for the course, you can sign up here. I am so thrilled to share this work with you.