So,
Let's begin.
Many of us have a struggle with the idea of loving ourselves.
I've had literally hundreds,
Maybe thousands of clients,
Both in my therapy practice and in my spiritual coaching practice,
Who have said they just don't know how to do this.
They don't understand what it could possibly mean to love oneself.
So many people have also said that they don't understand how that isn't so much of a selfish act that it would brand them forever as being egocentric and too much into their own self.
So loving oneself is a challenge for all of us.
And learning to do it,
Learning to pull within our own hearts those threads so they come alive of holding ourselves in love,
Holding ourselves in admiration,
Really reaching into our hearts and caring for ourselves deeply.
This is often foreign territory for so many of us and such a necessary thing to do.
And why is it necessary?
It seems to me that it's necessary because there's so much in our world,
Especially these days in this world that's dominated by forces that are extremely negative.
There's so much in this world that would put us against our own self to make our self and our sense of our self be almost an enemy in our lives.
So to learn instead to love ourselves,
Learn instead to reach inside,
To feel within our own stories that we tell every day that love is coming through,
That love for our own selves and a caring for ourselves,
Compassion for ourselves,
Forgiveness for ourselves,
That that is a nurtured and powerful part of who we are as a person.
So we want to find a way to do this.
And so many people have asked me how to do this,
How to love oneself.
That I pondered this for quite a while and being a person who has taught meditation and personal development for decades,
I came upon a very,
Very simple practice that I think if one does this practice that the love that we feel for our own self will have to increase,
That there's really no way around it.
So I'd like to take you through this practice.
It's relatively short and as you decide to take this practice on as your own,
Make it your own practice,
It can become stronger and stronger over time.
So literally you could do this practice on a daily basis in one or two minutes.
You could bring it up,
This practice,
If you're having a bad day or if something has happened that made you feel bad about yourself,
You could bring this practice up and hold this practice in your mind and in your heart to literally feel it imbuing itself down into your body and reverse that negativity,
Silence that negative critical voice that so many of us,
Me included,
Struggle with and begin to really take on the wonderful journey of loving your own self.
So we'll do the practice now.
It will just take seven to ten minutes perhaps and you'll get a chance to really feel it,
To feel this self love.
So let's begin.
Find a comfortable place,
Comfortable sitting position or lying down and as you do so,
Begin to calm your body and calm your mind.
Feel that sense of serenity slowly moving down throughout your body,
Of calmness,
Of relaxation and feel it like a wave.
Feel this relaxation like a wave starting at the top of your head and slowly moving down across your entire body,
Relaxing all the muscles of your body,
All the joints,
Even into your bones and organs.
Allow this relaxation to calm you,
To bring your emotions,
Your thoughts into a state of complete calmness and relaxation.
Feel this relaxation as it's settling into all of your body,
All of your thoughts,
All of your emotions and calming these different aspects of who you are.
Bring yourself into what you might think of as your center,
A place within that's quiet and calm,
That is able to maintain serenity in the face of difficulty,
That you return to at times when you're feeling overwhelmed or out of sorts.
Bringing yourself into relaxation like this is something that you can practice over and over and get better and better at.
And now in the view in your own mind,
In your own imagination,
I'd like to invite you to picture yourself standing there in front of you,
Just the way you are now,
Just the way you are today.
And look at your face and look at your eyes,
Look at your smile,
Look at how you're holding yourself.
And just observe yourself for just a moment.
And then within your own heart,
Part of you that's observing the visualization of you,
Within your own heart,
Begin to feel a glowing blue light that's increasing and expanding in its brightness and its intensity.
And feel this blue light as it expands more and more within your own chest,
Within your own heart.
Filling your body with this blue light,
The blue light of love.
And feel this blue light coursing through your body,
Up into your shoulders,
Through your neck,
Up into your head,
Your face,
Your eyes,
And all the way down your body,
Down your arms,
Down your torso,
Your hips,
Down past your groin area,
To your thighs,
Blue light,
Moving now down through your knees and your legs,
Shins and calves,
All the way down to your feet.
So your entire body is totally filled with this blue light,
This blue light of love.
And then come back to your heart and feel this light of love,
This blue light of love intensifying and getting stronger and stronger.
And then project it out of your heart like a big round beam of light,
Straight from your heart into the visualized self of you,
Standing in front of you,
And directly into the visualized self's heart.
So from your heart into the picture of you,
Right into that person's heart.
And feel that love from your heart pouring into your other heart.
See it with your imagination.
Feel it intensifying.
Feel the love growing and growing and becoming stronger and stronger and pouring into your heart,
This love,
This love light,
This blue love light pouring from your heart into your heart.
Feel it stronger,
Strengthening,
Expanding.
You might even feel it pulsating from your heart into the sense of your own self in front of you.
And then watch as it fills your visualized self's body up and down,
Just like it did with yours,
All the way down to your feet and all the way up to the top of your head,
Totally engulfed in blue light.
This blue light of love.
And something really wonderful begins to happen now.
That the visualized sense of you starts pouring love back into your heart.
So now this beam of light from your heart across to the other you is coming back from that you into your heart,
Back and forth.
So it's a powerful loop of love.
And it expands and intensifies even more.
So now it grows into a sphere,
A beautiful blue sphere of love light surrounding both of you.
And just allow this sphere of blue love light to intensify and pulsate,
To grow stronger and stronger.
So that all you can feel is the love that you have for yourself.
Allow it to grow stronger and stronger and stronger.
Just feel how good it feels to love yourself like this.
How much it heals to love yourself like this.
And see how beautiful you really are.
Steeped in this blue light of love.
There are no words to describe this kind of beauty that you hold in your heart.
It's beyond understanding.
Just let yourself feel it.
Let it grow and intensify one more level.
Give yourself permission to feel this amount of love for yourself.
One last moment.
And then feel your visualized sense of yourself merging back inside of you.
And feel the blue light as it stays with you in your heart,
In your body.
Having loved yourself so intensely.
All you have to do now to make this meditation your own is to close your eyes and picture this blue light of love pouring out of your heart and into the projected sense of you in front of you.
Just visualize yourself and do just what we did here today together.
It's a beautiful thing to love yourself so strongly.
To hold yourself with such compassion and caring.
To feel so empowered with love.
Make this meditation your own.
Take it into your heart and practice it as often as you can.
The more you do,
The more you'll know what it means to love yourself.
Namaste.
