The Book in Three Sentences
Everyone has a truth that they need to live and share. For the author, that truth was committing to the daily practice of repeating the phrase “I love myself.” When you love yourself, life loves you back.
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It summary
This is my book summary of Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant. My notes are informal and often contain quotes from the book as well as my own thoughts. This summary also includes key lessons and important passages from the book.
- Share your truth. Whatever your truth is, live it. Share it.
- James Altucher: “I don’t do a post now unless I’m worried about what people will think about me.”
- In simplicity lies truth. In simplicity lies power.
- This is a practice. You don’t go to the gym once and consider yourself done. Loving yourself is a practice.
- During a dark time in his life when he was feeling incredibly stressed and even depressed, the author kept repeating to himself day and night, “I love myself.”
- His mantra became his anchor. The one true thing in his life.
- He kept repeating it until it surprised himself doing it automatically. “Imagine the feeling of catching yourself loving yourself without even realizing you were doing it.”
- What if you don’t believe it? Doesn’t matter. Your role is to lay down the pathway for doing it. Connect the neurons and your body and mind will respond automatically.
- As you love yourself, life loves you back.
- There are three steps to gently return himself to self-love each day: 1) Mental loop, 2) Meditation, 3) One Question.
- If you loved yourself truly and deeply, would you limit your life to what you previously thought possible? Nope. You would blow your own socks off.
- What if you don’t love yourself or even like yourself? Just remain open to the possibility of loving yourself. The rest is easy.
- Darkness is simply the absence of light. You can’t push darkness away. You can’t hide from it. Similarly, you can’t hide from depression, anxiety, self-hate, and more. And you don’t need to. The only thing you need to do is turn a light on. To let the sun shine in through the window. Whenever you feel like you are in darkness, just let light in through the window. You don’t need to escape or destroy the darkness. Just let in the light.
- Step 1: Mental Loop
- A thought loop is a pathway laid down by constant use. With enough time and intensity, if you repeat it again and again, you start to create a mental river that controls you. You believe it is automatic and the reality you live in, but really it is just a mental loop you have repeated too many times.
- You can reverse this process. You can create your own focused mental loops. Repeat, “I love myself” again and again and again. Lay the pathway for that loop to run over and over. Eventually, it will take hold whether you believe it or not.
- You need to create a groove that is deeper than those unhappy and unhelpful grooves you’ve laid down over the years.
- Step 2: Meditation
- Each day, the author listens to a 7-minute piece of music that he likes and thinks, “I love myself.”
- Pattern: Inhale > Think “I love myself” > Exhale > Let out whatever thoughts you have.
- Step 3: Question
- “If I love myself truly and deeply, would I let myself experience this?” The answer was always “no” for the author.
- This question gently shifts your focus from wherever you are to self-love.
- Can you say, “I’m in love” and have it simply be with yourself? Of course you can. If you love yourself, you naturally shine. You get a spring in your step and your smile comes out.
- Beautiful irony: fall in love with yourself and naturally express yourself and the world will beat a path to your door to fall in love with you.
- The more you think about it, the more you feel it, the stronger the memory. The more you recall something, the more it strengthens. The emotions you focus on are the same. The more you focus on negative aspects of your memory, the more they take control. They more you focus on the positive thoughts and loving yourself, the more they take control.
- Most of what we fear is not useful and not real. When fear arises your job is to remind yourself of this. “Not useful. Not real. Continue on.”
- Don’t let yourself coast when things are going great. “It’s easy to wish for your health when you’re sick. But you need to be just as vigilant when things are going great.”
- If you love yourself truly and deeply, you’ll commit to the practice. You won’t get lazy when things are going well.
- Loving yourself is like putting your oxygen mask on before helping the person next to you. Loving yourself softens your own ego. Fear hardens your ego. It’s easier to be helpful and kind when you love yourself.
- Instead of reading loads of self-help books, we should just focus on one thing. Put all our energy toward that. And place a bet on one thing. For the author, that one thing is “I love myself.”
- The one key that makes all of this work is this: make the vow. Make the commitment and make it on paper. Make the vow to yourself to live your truth. Write down whatever it is that speaks to you. The words don’t matter. Just make sure it comes from you and it is in your own words. That’s how the magic will happen.
