Posts by Rita Loyd

Rita Loyd is a writer and a watercolor painter dedicated to teaching unconditional self-love. Through her website, NurturingArt.com, she offers a variety of tools to support your self-love journey—including two inspirational books, an unconditional self-love message card deck, and a colorful greeting card line.

Rita Loyd's Website

How Understanding Complex Trauma Deepened My Ability to Love Myself

By Rita Loyd

“Being present for your own life is the most radical act of self-compassion you can offer yourself.” ~Sylvia Boorstein

In 2004, I experienced a powerful breakthrough in understanding what it meant to love myself. I could finally understand that self-love is about the relationship that you have with yourself, and that relationship is expressed in how you speak to yourself, treat yourself, and see yourself. I also understood that self-love is about knowing yourself and paying attention to what you need.

These discoveries, and others, changed my life and led me into a new direction. But as the years …

What Unconditional Self-Love Looks Like

By Rita Loyd

“Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.” ~Louise L. Hay

When I first began painting my art over twenty years ago, it was not my intention to paint about self-love. In fact, at that time, I had no idea what self-love was. I was just painting as a form of therapy.

A few years prior, I thought that I did know what self-love was, but then, when I lost my health to a chronic illness and could no longer do the things I once had been able to do, I lost my ability to …

The Art of Nurturing Self-Talk: How to Tell Yourself What You Need to Hear

By Rita Loyd

“You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head. Be kind to yourself.” ~Unknown

Talking to ourselves in a nurturing way can be a challenge if we rarely heard nurturing words in the early formative years of our lives. In fact, if we were often criticized or neglected, we probably learned to criticize and neglect ourselves instead.

When I was growing up, my mom was a dedicated wife and mother, but she suffered from deep depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. She didn’t know how to be encouraging or nurturing because she was never …

Transformation by Rita Loyd

By Rita Loyd

The inspiration to paint this image came after reflecting upon how I have transformed from living in a dark place of depression, negativity, and self-hate to a place of light and unconditional self-love.

Heart of Healing by Rita Loyd

By Rita Loyd

The inspiration to paint this image came after reflecting upon what I thought a powerful woman could look like. She is someone who is fully aware of her own light, freedom, and power. She is someone who feels connected with the universe, and the universe flows through the cells of her body and through the strands of her hair.