How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways…
Everything that happens in life is an opportunity to LOVE.
And above all, an opportunity to love YOU—to truly 100% love yourself completely, no matter what.
Every failure.
Every heartbreak.
Every panic attack.
Every clumsy moment.
Every win.
Every celebration.
Every moment… an invitation to love yourself. To dive into the pool of self-love.
Many believe that to love oneself is selfish. That it is undesirable and perhaps even narcissistic. Some even cite cultural rules and religious dogma that self-love is…well… simply wrong.
To practice loving ourselves, is remembering your true nature, that you cannot love others without loving yourself first.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. – Buddha
When you honor your love for yourself, you open and give to self and others from an ever-filled abundant well of love.
To love yourself means to give love, attention, and care to the self, so that you can be filled to overflow and then be able to share, love, and nurture your relationships, careers, work, housework, parenting, and your lovers from that space.
Self-love is a practice of filling the yearning from your soul because it is about practicing listening to what we desire, acceptance of it, and acting towards it.
Self-love is important because it is process of remembering where your genuine power resides.
To love you means being willing to say no to what does not serve and yes to what brings more aliveness and hope. Errors and mistakes transform into openings where the light shines in.
To be in self-love makes life simpler and more carefree.
Because when you love yourself more, mountains aren’t made out of molehills. You are kinder and more compassionate. You stop beating yourself over mistakes or temporary setbacks.
You remember that you are ultimately responsible for your own happiness.
And, when you find yourself in relationships and circumstances that set you back, you replenish your own well, request a change or even walk away because you know that love calls each of us to shine and help our beloveds do the same.
Self-love inspires you to feel more deserving of the good things. There’s less sabotage. And, more freedom to go for it—to go after the heart’s desire with more motivation, gusto and focus than ever before because you believe in YOU.
To love yourself is the ultimate reminder that the Divine does not reside outside of you. Rather it is in you
To be in self-love is to see you through the eyes of love especially those moments when the world or our ego tells you that you are undeserving.
Seeing though eyes of love…
Celebrate yourself every day. This is not about perfection, but your willingness to notice the quotidian things you do that are done with care and love. With self-Love, we express self-appreciation and compassion. We celebrate our wins—big and small—because we are worth it to ourselves.
Practice self-forgiveness. Everyone does the best they can given the circumstances, skills, and choices one perceives having in that moment. If you could have thought of something better to do… you would have done just that.
Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you! ~ Dr. Seuss. The greatest act and most powerful of practicing self-love is accepting you exactly as you are. This does not mean that you never heal, grow and learn. What it does mean that all your quirks, imperfections and warts are ways of loving yourself.
Love,
Jacqueline
PS: If you are a woman in Greater L.A and want support in creating a self-love practice, join me at Shine Bright from the Inside Out on September 22nd.