~Self-love~
I have been reflecting on self-love a lot lately and what it truly means. Ever since I am on a journey of being in deep connection with myself, I encounter moments of clarity as well as a lot of doubts. It is only by self-inquiry that we can discover the true answer. Yoga, Buddhism, time in nature and connecting with other people on a similar path have created space to look deeper into this. When we create space to be with our true selves, sometimes suffering will surface and a lot of doubt about our true worth. Even though it might be painful, it is only then that we can see all that has been bringing us down and preventing from taking a step forward.
A Persian poet Rumi said : “The wound is where the light enters you”. Such powerful and adequate words.
Sometimes we carry things for years including feelings of inadequacy, self-criticism, self-judgement, resentment, guilt. This stuff might come from situations that we don’t even remember as children. But they have imprinted something deep within our nervous system, in our bodies.
How to practice self-love when those feelings arise?
To be able to do that we need to feel safe in our bodies, we need to feel that no judgement will be made for how we are, how we react right now.
An act of self-love is being who we truly are without worry or concern of what others might think. When this space is created, we feel lighter, we are no longer expected to be someone that we are not.
Self-love means so many things - boundaries, self-respect, rest, doing things for pleasure, eating well, sleep, expressing ourselves and so on. But essentially it means being our true selves, restoring our wholeness, tapping into our uniqueness and letting ourselves shine in various ways.
I have had many moments of disliking myself, disbelieving my abilities and they come back to me still on a regular basis but in a less intense form. Having felt the power of living authentically and supported by community inspires me to do the work I do. I want to create spaces for everyone to feel safe, come back to their bodies, their breath, to be heard and valued with an opportunity to look deep within, to embrace all parts of ourselves, to bring all pieces of ourselves together, to accept, to love ourselves unconditionally and to discover our wholeness so that we feel empowered to live true to ourselves.