"Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”~ Parker Palmer
We are taught at a very young age to love others. We are told often that we should love everyone, help others, and give often. We’ve learned to do this in many ways: we give of our time, our money, our resources, our skills, our talents and through random acts of kindness. This is all wonderful, very important, extremely helpful, and a highly effective way to feel good and fill our personal love tank. Plus, the more we give, the more we receive as we experience the abundance that love brings. So, let’s keep giving more!
However, (more to the point of this blog), there is another way we can love others to the best of our ability at a completely different level of impact, at a level that is the most powerful. There is something each and every one of us can do. It is very simple and most important. It is the act of loving ourselves first. The truth is, we can most positively and naturally impact everyone all around us by heaping big, healthy doses of love onto ourselves, and then onto others.
So, what does it mean to truly love yourself?
When you truly love yourself, you make choices every moment of every day that are aligned with who you really are at your deepest level of humanity and spirituality. You are living your greatest truth. You love yourself by keeping promises to yourself, respecting yourself, and honoring yourself. You are being the you that the Loving Voice within you is always nudging you to be. As you open your heart to this, you see your brilliance and magnificence, and appreciate every bit of your uniqueness. You see yourself as the spectacular version of you that the Universe intends for you to be.
When you make it your priority to grow your special gifts and talents, you are loving you. When you focus on your strengths, and growing them, you are loving you. You will start to see, more clearly than ever before, the potential that you have and the incredible person you were created to be. When you love yourself more than ever before, you will have the greatest most loving impact on others. So, others will benefit from your self-love.
How does this work?
When you love yourself in the best sense of these words, everyone around you benefits because you show up as the best version of you. Everyone around you becomes an automatic recipient of your love. The more you love yourself, the more it flows out and touches others, uplifting them, allowing and inviting them to be their best selves too.
When we feel deep and authentic love for ourselves we look at everyone and everything in that same way… we see only amazing traits in others. We see only beauty in them. In other words, the more we love ourselves, the more we love others!
This kind of love is pure love. It has no conditions, no requirements, and no qualifications to be met. It is a very different kind of love than what we are used to. It is the most powerful form of love. Remember, we create everything in our lives by the way we feel. So, the more love we feel, the more amazing our lives become. When we feel this way, an abundance of health, fantastic relationships, money, and everything else begins to take shape. And just imagine how amazing you will feel as you get closer to the feeling of pure love.
So, how will you know when you’ve living from a place of pure love? You’ll love yourself, everyone, and everything simply because you and they exist!
Here are 4 things you can do today to feel more love.
To make it simple, just pick one and begin practicing it now.
1. Put your hand on your heart many times a day and say to yourself, over and over again: “I love myself (simply because I exist)”, or “I love you (your name).” Be sure to focus on feeling it.
2. Bless the diversity of others… life is so much more interesting because of it. Everywhere you go, look at everyone as a beautiful piece of artwork created by a magnificent Source of Infinite Power that values creativity, uniqueness and individuality.
3. When you know you need to feel differently about someone, put your hand on your heart as you think about them, and send them lots of love for happiness, health, and prosperity. Then, put a smile on your face as you feel love for you.
4. All day long concentrate on being grateful for what you already have that brings you joy, peace and calm.
Then know that the more you practice loving yourself and others, as well as everything, the more the life that you create all around you will reflect what you feel inside. You will take your life to levels you’ve never experienced before.
If this message inspired you, please forward it to a friend, colleague, client, or family member to brighten their day as well!
Need help feeling more joy today? Contact me for a FREE initial Coaching session at (239) 444-3133. *First time clients only please
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