Give love, get love, give love, get love. Photo courtesy digital art http://bit.ly/iHE9B8
Happy Valentine’s Day to me! Happy Valentine’s Day to me! This is my new deal: Radical self-love. Extreme self-nurture. I believe our true nature is joy. Doesn’t the delight of a sunrise, a baby’s smile, a hug, a beautiful work of art, a job well-done, a sincere compliment given or received, a gorgeous rose, doesn’t that feel more real and true than trouble and tragedy?
Maybe you’ll disagree. To which I say, yes, we’re hard-wired as a species to feel the depths of trouble. To worry, stress, fret, weep and grieve. And even to wallow. (Then there’s the whole thing about meanness and cruelty, to which I can only say, hurt people hurt people.) It was, after all, the scaredy-cat cave people who survived the saber-tooth tiger to reproduce and send their genes down to us. The cave guy who went along not paying attention, lla-di-da, well, he got eaten, right?
However. When I settle down into quiet, sitting or lying very still, listening to my breath, using one technique or another (focusing on breath; listening to guided imageries; repeating a good word like “peace” or a phrase like “thy will be done”; saying the 23rd Psalm or the Lord’s Prayer or the Serenity Prayer), when I do that, once in awhile I get down to what I experience as a really deep, subtle tickle. A quiet little deep laughing. A kind of inner vibration that says, “This is who you are! Sing! Dance! Rejoice! Relish and enjoy! This is your truth, your strength, your only reality! This is who you are!
And I believe that still, small, happy voice. I know people whose meditations are so radical they feel they’re one with God. I’m not there yet.
But I know one day I will be. So, to clear the path, I act as if I’m there, and I greet myself with kind thoughts and treat myself with compassionate actions. That way, I have a really nice day, and clear the way for the love I feel for YOU to come right, straight through.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! Happy Valentine’s Day to you! May you receive joy and the roots of joy.
Credit where credit is due: I recently heard the term radical self-love from my new friend Ann Thomas, a spiritual life coach and author of 101 Affirmations for Radical Self-Love. I met her at a woman’s networking meeting where she positively glowed with the truth of her book’s message. Learn more about Ann’s work at Evolvinggoddess.com.
The extreme self-nurture notion came to me while listening to a share from a different friend who was leading another support group aimed at healing the love-deprived among us. She chooses to remain anonymous, but the message is potent just the same. Thanks, M! You know who you are!