Self-Love
Do you accept and love yourself just as you are? Do you see your beauty despite your imperfections? How do you offer yourself kindness, gentleness, and grace? Each day you must choose the path of loving yourself instead of beating yourself up and being chronically hard on yourself.
You have a choice each day to get stuck in the pattern of loathing yourself or to choose the self-haven of love. Right now, I invite you to practice a little self-love by naming to yourself 3 gifts you have to offer the world. I know for those of you who are humble, this practice can be difficult, but humor me by picking 3 beautiful things about you.
Self-compassion is a twist on the golden rule. It is doing unto yourself as you would do unto others. So when we practice self-love we are treating ourselves as gently as we treat others. It is also important to be cognizant that the way we love ourselves actually translates to how we are able to love one another.
Actually, this can work in reverse as well. The more you see the good in others the more you will see the good in yourself. Dr. Steve Maroboli says, “Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. How you treat yourself sets the standard for how others will treat you.” So he reminds us our own practice of self-love can also inform how others see us and treat us.
My hope for you is that you can see how truly unique, rare, and beautiful you are. If you are going through a difficult season in your life, self-compassion is even more important. Please consider joining me in the following meditation. Bring your hands to prayer at heart center and take a deep breath in and then find your exhale and then say out loud or silently in your heart:
I will see my beauty
Take another inhale/exhale
I will be gentle with myself
Take another inhale/exhale
I will offer myself grace
Take another inhale/exhale
I will offer myself compassion
Take another inhale/exhale and then keep prayer hands at heart center and close your eyes for about a minute or so to experience the gift of self-love.
May we choose the path of self-love,
Christy
