Self-Love

This recording is from a live meditation that was a part of a retreat lead by Shane Wilson. The object, dealing with the concept of self-love. Particularly at this time in our history, it is important to embrace and be aware of how we truly feel about ourselves. Ask, do I actually love myself unconditionally?

Transcript

Let's make ourselves comfortable if we can and we'll do meditation based on this concept of self-love. With your eyes closed, Bring your attention to the body. Notice the breathing if you like, Notice your posture. In other words, Direct your attention inward. The body is the excellent, Excellent place to do this. Sometimes when we first sit and meditate, We kind of do it mechanically and it's alright to do that. I think from the very beginning we have a method to relax the body and still the mind. That's very important. But I think the reason we meditate is very important too. And I personally feel that meditation is one of the best things that we can do for ourselves. I think for the most part people that care for themselves and actually love themselves for the most part are meditators and that's why it's such a warming, Loving community to be with others that really love themselves and that makes it much easier for them to love others and care for others. Because this discipline of meditation is just that. It's a discipline we all meditate for a particular reason and there's a good chance that many of us were drawn to meditation because of some anxiety or something that was happening in our life that we thought meditation would help. And then we developed and appreciated the practice so much that we continued even after it had helped us. And I know I've seen meditation help a great deal of number of people a lot. So what a concept it is to love ourselves. And I think a lot of us don't really think about it as much as we should. That's why I decided to bring it up this evening. To really love ourselves above all others is not a crime, It's not a sin, It's nothing bad. And I think it's probably very, Very important. Because we're not good for anybody if we're not good for ourselves. How can you really love another if you can't first love the foundation from where it all begins? So do you feel good about yourself when waking in the morning? Do you feel a genuine appreciation for who you are? Do you have a healthy relationship with you? Whenever you have the opportunity, You should surround yourself with loving thoughts and loving people. People that appreciate you. This will automatically set the tempo and set the cue for you to appreciate yourself. And if there are any kind of toxic people and toxic things in your life, We should slowly learn to filter those out. Including the negative relationships. So we want to take care of ourselves, Again including meditation daily, Healthy eating, Exercise. Our health is very, Very important. Just like any kind of strenuous activity or strenuous exercise, We don't always appreciate it while we're doing it, But afterwards we feel wonderful. And that wonderful feeling is an amplification of that feeling that we have for ourselves. We're grateful for that workout that we did, The movement of the body, The nourishment. We feel energized. And this can be true with a lot of aspects of life. Eating healthy. Being with others that really care about us. Taking care of ourselves. When we're on this journey of self-love, We definitely want to consider our own self-love. Our inner dialogue. And pay special attention to noticing any negative inner thoughts, Inner words. And really learn to recognize it so that we can stop it. Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts, Positive affirmations. If we have been taught as young people not to appreciate ourselves, We should recognize that and understand that it's not a lesson that came from us. It's not a beneficial lesson. Something that we should rectify and take care of. And these are the ways to do that. This is one of the reasons that a lot of people are in the situation of not having any self-love or not enough because of what they falsely learned as young people. And perhaps this is a time to let those negative lessons go. So we should watch out for negative memories, Negative words that were told us. Especially in our informative years. Lies. I think every person has a right to go after what they want out of life. For us to really appreciate ourselves, We have to appreciate life itself. And what does life mean to us? How can we get more out of it? We should pursue our dreams. Pursue what inspires us. And perhaps do nothing other than what inspires us and see where that leads us. What inspires you to get up out of bed in the morning and to get going? Where do you want to be in one week, One month, One year, Five years, Ten years? Who do you want to be? What do you want to have? Where do you want to be in life? And as mentioned, We must add the practice of gratitude with the practice of self-love. The two go hand in hand. Having gratitude and being grateful for all the things that we've had in life and that is a part of our life. It's very important. And the opposite of gratitude and being grateful is taking things for granted. So we want to be very careful. We want to spend more time alone in meditation, Walking in nature, Reading. Spending five minutes by ourselves whenever we can. It can really nourish the soul. It can be very beneficial for ourselves and for everyone. We learn to appreciate that time that we have by ourselves. And I feel that the more we do that, The more we have that, The more we gain from it, Including inspiration and insight. We want to really pay attention to the successes in life. Our own successes and the successes of others. Each one of us is on our own path, On our own journey. And we've had, Likely have had successes that we've not even mentioned to other people. We don't want to forget those, Those things that we've done to help ourselves along. But also we want to be happy for the successes of others. Even if it's something that we don't necessarily agree with. Everybody's been working diligently at something and they succeed, Be happy for them. It's easy to do. And your achievements are your own. Something that you can recall and use to really energize yourself and to inspire yourself to be more. And in general, This is something that we can use right now is positive energy. And putting positive energy out, Not only in the form of actions, Like bodily actions, But in the forms of words and thoughts. It's a very good meditation practice to pay attention to every thought that comes out of the mind, Making sure that it's positive. There's going to be thoughts happening regardless. We can even try to stifle them and stop the thoughts. Sometimes it's much more educational for us to pay close attention to them and be mindful of every thought that comes from us. And make sure that these thoughts are positive, That the words that we say and use are positive, Like energy. And that's what they are. Make sure that all the energy that comes out from you is positive. And that's a sure way to have all the energy come in to you to be positive as well. What goes out comes in. And we need this exchange of energy. We don't want to muck it up with negative energy in any way. Positive energy out, Positive energy in. One cannot be comfortable without their own approval. Forgive yourself, Let go of the past and move forward forevermore. We'll sit in silence and just make sure that everything that comes up is positive for you. Positive for everyone. We'll sit in silence and just make sure that everything that comes up is positive for you. The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The