Self Love is the Best Love

This post is an urgent message to all of you out there. It's about the ways we do ourselves wrong and compromise our personal development through our treatment of ourselves. It's about the myriad ways we make ourselves available to others, but take no time to be nice to ourselves. Think about it---when was the last time you looked yourself in the mirror and said, "I love you?" Seriously. When was the last time you wrote yourself a letter and professed your undying love to you? Fareal. Sent yourself some flowers? Bought yourself a gift? Wrote a list of your best characteristics? Huh, when was it? I'm not trying to be facetious; I mean it. We spend so much of our time in busy mode, or crisis mode, or helping everyone mode or whatever mode that we may miss out on the goodness of our ownselves.

If I ask you what was the last nice thing you did for yourself, would you be able to name it? Quickly: tell me what's the last nice thing you did for yourself (10 seconds only...10, 9, 8, 7...). Okay time's up; could you do it? If you came up with something, was it really just for you or did it benefit everyone else around you (e.g: a vacuum cleaner for a gift? Um. That's not really for you)? See, that's it right there. Not too many of us can really say that we took some time to be self-ish (not selfish, because that's something different). Not many of us even knows what true "Me time" means.

Can you fully disconnect from the world and just indulge in the luxury of you? Yeah, you. Because your personal time is a luxury, but we often forget that. We squander our time and put ourselves low on the "to do" list. We say we don't have the time to look after ourselves. You know why? Because we give so much of our time away to everyone else, anyone else, that we forget all about ourselves. Sad, but true. But the truth is that we do have time, but we don't often value ourselves enough to use our time on us. We need to recognize our worth and put ourselves on our personal agendas because we need attention, too.

Think about it: if someone calls us to do something or be somewhere, many of us will drop whatever it is that we are doing and grab our capes and head out the door on a rescue mission (Here I Come to Save the Day). But when we are in need, when our bodies ache, our spirits hurt, our minds burn, we put our own healing and our own needs on the back burner. We say, "Oh, I'll get some rest later" or "Oh, I'll be fine", when really, we are coming apart at the seams. We are stressed to our core, but we ignore the warning signs of our own self-sacrifice. People, we have got to do better!!!!!

Listen, you can't love someone else more than you love yourself. Well, you can, but you SHOULDN'T!!! Yeah, I said it. You should love yourself more than you love anyone else. You know why? Because when you love yourself more, you will be able to treat people better and give the best of yourself to those who deserve it. It's true. When you know who and how you are, when you know your likes and dislikes and when you know your purpose and your worth, you will be your best you! You will be able to give without worry, love without fear and grow without limits. How does it go? "To thine ownself be true" and "Charity begins at home." We haven't been listening y'all, but we need to start because we are our own best thing.

Being a better person starts with you. There is nothing external that can fuel your growth like good old fashioned self-reflection combined with purposeful action. You are beautifully created and you are designed for greatness. In every moment, you have the potential to change a life, including yours. Take time out to know the ins and outs of your being. Look in the mirror and say, "I love you (insert name)" and mean it. If you have some work to do on fixing your stuff (baggage, family history, addictions, anger, etc.), then do it...now. But be loving and gentle and kind to you because there is truly only one you. And at the end of the day, you are all you have. So take good care of your inner and outer selves. Because, you know what? You're worth it.

Peace.

Lizz Wright "Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly"