A love letter for your weary heart
During these times of intensity, when so much is being demanded of you every day, it’s time to call in kindness and generosity.
Yes, offer this consideration to others. Kindness is a currency that travels far.
But in particular, and especially now, offer this kindness and generosity towards yourself.
This is the best time to do away with the unreasonable conditions and standards you’ve set for yourself and your own deservedness.
Instead of holding love at arm’s length, waiting, judging, criticizing, and punishing yourself for the ways you fall short, aren’t enough, didn’t know, missed the mark…
Recognize you are doing your best.
If your best falls short of your expectations, ask yourself if it feels better to withhold your compassion? Or to love yourself forward into learning, growing, practicing, and showing up even better next time?
In those moments when that mean inner voice starts rattling off all the ways you are less than, notice the expectations and conditions you are requiring yourself to meet before you are worthy of generosity, kindness, and love.
Notice how these conditions make it so hard to care for yourself.
Notice how it feels to talk to and treat yourself this way.
Would you treat a dear loved one this way? Or your child?
Choose to let that self-abuse go.
Instead of meandering down that well-worn path of self-loathing, take a step in a new direction.
Think of one thing that you love about yourself.
Maybe it’s your tenacity.
The way you show up as a friend.
How you love to try new things.
Your hair, your painted toes, your eyes.
Or your ability to laugh and bring others with you when things become unnecessarily serious.
Think about one thing that you can boast about, obsess over yourself about, and let that one thing draw you down a different path.
A path without conditions or expectations. A path where your lovability is a given. It simply is because YOU ARE.
It’s time to shower yourself with the recognition that you are completely lovable.
You, with all your quirks and idiosyncrasies, your messiness and imperfections, your wants, needs and desires…
The real you is so worthy of love.
There is nothing you can do, or be, that is ever going to make you less worthy of love.
Ask yourself frequently, “How can I love myself more right now?”
Not because of any condition or reason, or because you’ve reached some goal or fulfilled a certain expectation.
But because you are you. You exist. You are here. You are alive.
You are worthy of love, from yourself and from others, always.
Especially when you feel you’ve fallen short and want to berate yourself for being less than perfect. Especially when you want to hide, contract, and run.
Often, it is hardest for us to love ourselves. We frequently forgive and offer compassion to others far easier and quicker than we do to ourselves.
This gets to change now.
The more kind you can be with yourself, the easier it is to soften and expand.
The more generous you can be with yourself, the more you can open, feel, and connect.
The more magnanimous you can be with yourself, the greater your presence and impact can be.
In a world that is propagating conflict and promoting so much fear…
Choose to be ray of light.
Choose to love, starting with yourself.
Choose to focus on becoming who and what you know you’re being called to be.
Choose to expand and rise.
The war may exist all around you, but it does not have to live inside of you.
How can you love yourself more, right now?
Loving yourself is the way forward, love.
Begin today.
xx
Originally published on https://aliciamorrow.com/