Self Love

I would love for you all to place your attention and focus on the picture above along with the powerful affirmation written. Then i want you to say out aloud " I LOVE AND APPROVE OF MYSELF", take a few seconds to really let that echo through your being, feel any reactions? Squirming? Sarcasm? Doubt? is your body all tensed? feel odd? or perhaps this statement totally resonates with you and you've got a huge smile splashed across your face, stretching ear to ear?

Now look at the little girl in the picture again and this time around when you repeat " I Love and Approve of Myself" look at her smile, she knows she's a prefect little being, a pure joy, she never thinks of what other's are going to think of her if she decides to play, or cry, or watch TV, or make her way into the library and throw every book off the shelf! Trust me I know first hand about this little girl, she's my lovely little angel of a daughter.

For the past eleven months she's been my number one teacher when it comes to self love. She cries when she's hungry, she coos when she's happy and she's got the most amazing laugh when her favourite TV program is on. I've sat there and Ive admired her in her few months of learning and discovering with some mistakes along the way of trying to eat, sit up, walk, talk, not once Ive ever seen her beat up herself about not being able to do any of this right the first time, or have I seen her not wanting to attempt to give anything else a shot because she wasn't successful at things she was not able to do in the past.

Yet many of us sit here second after second, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, and perhaps some of us even decades after decade, torturing ourselves for mistakes of the past, replaying the situation over and over in our heads, trying to modify the outcome of what's already happened with " what if's" to try and get some sort of relief from the self imposed prison we've caged ourselves in.

I've come from a background that taught me to be honourable, and to be righteous and worthy ment I had to sacrifice myself, my dreams, my desires and my needs for the better good of everyone around me. Only through making others happy would I find any happiness of my own! Familiar story for alot of us!

Where in fact, as the years past by and I came to a clear and unmistakably definite understanding that there is NO one EVER in this entire world that I can make completely and fully happy, was i released from this jail. Disagree? tell me how many people have you been able to fully and completely create an absolute constant stream of happiness for them in your life? It's a full time job if you're going to try to even successfully achieve making someone happy.

Nothing is wrong with wanting to make others happy, but let's stop and focus here for a second, if you want to get on a mission to make the world a happier place, start with YOU, YES! and that my friend is the first step to wanting to see the rest of the world smile; start with self love.

SELF LOVE to me means taking time and attention and sincerely focusing on all aspects that contributes to the wholeness of " self". It allows for us to fully work on the areas of our mind, body,emotions and spirit. What do you want? What do you desire? What does your body crave? What are your emotions trying to express to you when you're sad or depressed? Only you have the answers to all of these questions, and you will only receive these life changing answers when you decide to spend time with yourself and listen ....

So simple exercise , let's focus on the four aspects that makes up "YOU"

BODY
MIND
EMOTIONS
SPIRIT

Ask all four of these parts what would they like to share with you? Listen and write down anything that pops into your mind or feelings and sensations you may feel coming through. I would highly recommend journal your findings, and actually follow through and integrate one thing for each area you've received guidance from. Experience the "high" and the joy that comes in when you take that little step to follow through on doing something for yourself and knowing that you've made a sense of a great accomplishment and fulfillment. Job well done!