LOVE. Oh yeah, bring it on!

Leave a comment

April 9, 2014 by urbanhealthjunkie

Sometimes I bring up the topic of self-love in my yoga classes and on retreats. I get mixed reactions and a few raised eyebrows. And I’m sure there are a few thinking, ‘how can she be so narcissistic?’ And you know what, during my late teens and periods of deeper insecurity I probably was just that. But now their reactions begs the question in me ‘why waste so much energy holding onto your unworthiness?’

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.   Edmund Hillary (first man to climb Mt. Everest).

In 1956, psychologist and social philosopher Erich Fromm proposed that loving oneself is different from being arrogant, conceited or egocentric. He proposed that loving oneself means caring about oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, respecting oneself, and knowing oneself (e.g. being realistic and honest about one’s strengths and weaknesses). He proposed, further, that in order to be able to truly love another person, a person needs first to love oneself in this way.

You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.   Yogi Bhajan

Self-love is important to living well. It influences who you pick for a mate, the image you project at work, and how you cope with the problems in your life.

Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. In essence it’s about owning our own power and acting from a place of kindness toward ourselves.

How about contemplating the following:

When we love and accept ourselves we let go of blame, shame, and anger. We invite ownership, creation, and power into our lives..

When we love and accept ourselves we let go of loneliness and embrace a deeper connection and sense of oneness with the world.

When we love and accept ourselvese we allow ourselves to show up in the world and live our purpose.

The more we look at ourselves with love, the more we practice love and acceptance toward others. We let go of thoughts that negate our reality (the “should”s), and we become lovers of what is.

When we love and accept ourselves we allow ourselves to be human. We accept mistakes and failures, and we invite vulnerability into our lives. We don’t need to prove ourselves to others, because we know that we’re enough.

When we love and accept ourselves we move from scarcity to abundance in every area of life without the need to fight or push to get it.

To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.    Alan Cohen