The Greatest LOVE February 2019
Sometimes I get a phrase or song stuck in my head, like a ear worm, constantly on repeat. My latest repetitive loop is..."I LOVE myself enough to ___________"
be chosen
be loved by someone who is healthy and available
be successful
succeed, as well as fail
be supported
receive
LOVE and be LOVEd in return
choose me
choose you
Whenever I get these insights on repeat. I know I need to do a deeper dive to hear what I'm missing. So I sit with to droning sound. I LOVE myself enough to.....I LOVE myself enough to.....I LOVE myself enough to..... This has been my meditation of the New Year so far.
I'm reminded of my freshman year in college, having a deep philosophical rant with my best friend at the time, and her asking me "Tony do you love yourself". To my own surprise my answer was "No". This realization profoundly rocked my world.
"No...."
Delving deeper into to question, logically I surmised that I really like Tony. Tony has a lot going for himself. Tony is a great friend.... a loving friend. He has great since of style. He is open-minded, more open-minded than those around him. He is curious about the world. Tony is kind and generous. The "give the shirt off his back" type of guy. A really good guy. Hence, logically the answer has to be.... No!?!
In that moment, the understanding of liking myself; really, really, liking myself, did not equate to LOVING myself. My inner world began to unravel. My belief system laid bare before me. Loving myself would make me selfish. (I was taught NEVER to be selfish) An awareness giving way to a deeper insight. If I really loved myself, that this Tony would cease to exist. The Tony who liked himself was safe and confined within knowable emotional parameters. Liked Tony was domesticated to making his parents dreams come true. Liked Tony followed the rules life expected of him; formed by friends, church, state, schools and culture. Liked Tony, docile, in the safety of the role he was cast in by the world around him.
To LOVE myself would mean dissolving the way I have been thinking. I began to know the internalized habits of limited beliefs. To LOVE Tony would mean to enter the realm of something unseen. A place where wholeness abides. A space where people lived in truth and awake to wholeness. A new home where spiritual beings, on all levels, live in the truth of who they are created to be.
So, in that very moment it all clicked. I chose a new path. One where I can safely now answer "Yes, I really love myself"
The path to self LOVE is a process. One of breaking free of the approval of others. It is the road less taken because at times it can feel lonely. We learn to find our own personal best. We think differently and challenge our limited, fear based belief systems. Creating for us to rise above the criticism and approval of those who live in fear. We trust our hearts drawing to us other open hearted people. With open hearts and minds we are available to receive the good around us. On this path we are available to walk away from anything or anyone born in fear and limitation. We LOVE deeply and completely.
I invite you to join on the journey to self LOVE. Here you join the tribe of those who strive for LOVE not only in relationships, yet LOVE for making life better. Which then makes for a world. It starts WITHIN. It starts with YOU.
As Whitney once sang:
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
Today I think I will sit and meditate on
"I LOVE myself enough to be the Greatest LOVE of all"
Happy Lunar New Year
Happy Valentine's Day
LOVE your way
Create a beautiful day
T