I also look at my sweet dog's face and have felt immediate unconditional self love. No matter what happens to him, I know I will always be there for him no matter what. What would happen if we transferred the way we feel about our pets to everyone around us and to ourselves? We can find inspiration in how to foster unconditional self love in the way we treat our friends, loved ones, and pets. Whenever you hear those harsher internal voices arise, we can recall our last interaction with a friend or loved one and that same compassion, empathy, and love we offered to our friend, we can invite back to ourselves.
You deserve the same unconditional self love and kindness that you offer to everyone around you. Our thoughts are luckily not facts, they are not a truth. In any moment, the power is always within you to re-shape any internal dialogue to one that feels more loving and gentle. You can create a list of all the individuals in your life that you offer unconditional love to and on those days that feel slightly harder to offer yourself that same love, it can be powerful to think about those individuals in your life you love and give yourself the same words you would offer to them of affection and acceptance.