Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Self love- can you love yourself more during stressful times?



     I am writing this in the aftermath of two major hurricanes, ongoing fires, earthquakes and continuing social and political turmoil in the United States and elsewhere.  Many of us have been feeling the fear energy wafting through our energetic atmosphere for quite a while, so today I want to dedicate a focus to self-love as a way to navigate through all of this.  I hope you have not been directly affected by any of these events, and if you are my thoughts and prayers go out to you that you find your way back to your center soon.  For the much larger group of us who have not been directly affected there still remains the question:  "Am I going to continue to allow fearful thoughts and feelings into my space or am I going to choose differently?".  Here then is our subject for today: self-love.

     If I was to ask you to gauge to what percentage you love yourself, what would it be?  10%, 50%, 100%?  If it is 100% you would probably not be reading this because your life would be so full of joyful creations that you are manifesting you wouldn't have the interest to find any ideas on how to improve yourself, correct?  As someone who knows that he doesn't love himself 100% all of the time, or even some of the time, I feel that I am in good company of a lot of lovely beings sharing life here on Earth, working to become better in some way.  It's ok to not love yourself completely, just begin where you are at.  If you believe that you love yourself 50%, get into a 100% belief of that and go from there.

     Life is moving forward and change is occurring.  The 5th dimension is here and we are mostly yet to claim much of it, partly because we are all individually and collectively in the process of releasing what doesn't serve anymore.  Since 5th dimensional awareness is all about love (living on vibrant energy), it is a higher vibration than fear.  It does require, as I have said, releasing fear as much as we can.  It also requires us claiming for ourselves more love, and that begins with the self.  Now some may say that it is a bit self-centered to focus on loving oneself, yet it is there from where all springs.  Each one of us is our own self contained love factory!  While we may think that it comes from seeking outside of ourselves, it is in fact a result of the frequencies that we are broadcasting that our personal reality that magnetizes the corresponding situations and events to each of us.

Coming off of auto-pilot

     For most of us, there isn't much time in a day to love ourselves.  We sleep 1/3 of the day, work 1/3 of the day and then have to cram in everything else into the remaining 8 hours.  Much of what each of us do in any given day is the result of choices likely made years ago.  Some of those choices still serve us, and many do not.  It is the one's that do not serve us that is where I believe each of us needs to focus on.  It is where we can make new choices that will serve us to improve our self love and well being, making ourselves more transparent to the lower vibrations of fear energy that we might be experiencing.

     Each one of us is on a journey that is personal to them.  There is no "one size fits all" for a human life.  On a  soul level each one of us plans for certain themes to be present to us and that is different for each person.  Each of us has a different thought process on how we interpret life as we are experiencing it, however each of us is potentially an expert in our own selves if we are willing to stop and take the time to honor ourselves and our experiences and then work to choose what will bring us more love.  Making the idea of increasing our own self love is almost a radical concept in today's world.  We seem to have a society that is mesmerized by fear for the most part and love just happens to be riding along.  In fact, it is love that is the basis for our existence at all, and fear is just a very persistent ancient habit that we are working to release bit by bit.  And it is happening.

     If you are willing to take a look at what feels like love to you in your own life, you will see many things.  It might be a relationship with another, a job that pays the bills and gives you financial freedom, it might be a cause that you are passionate about that you devote your time to pursuing.  Conversely you might see things that you don't like and don't serve you as well.  Anything that takes you out of feeling happy in the present moment is most likely in this category.  Look closely at any behavior you have that is making you unconscious in the present moment.  It is there that there is another choice to make if you desire.  The ego plays many tricks on us to get us to not focus on love in the present moment, it is up to us to build our awareness of what matters most.  It is up to each of us to decide what that is and then choose it for ourselves.



To thine own self be true

     There is one person you can never escape from in this life, and that is you.  To thine own self be true is a statement that each of us can be blessed by if we take it to heart.  This is about listening to the quiet voice inside of ourselves, the one that nudges us to try something new, to take a risk, to take action in any of a number of areas.  Most of us, most of the time, fail to listen to this voice.  We instead listen to the louder voice of ego consciousness, which operates in fear and love, while the inner voice operates only from love.  If you are going to be true to anyone, let it be your own inner self.  It is the one that will lead you to all sorts of good things if you take the chance to allow yourself to follow its lead.

     The choice presently that most of us make is to allow the mental self to take the lead role in our lives.  Or it could be the emotional self as well.  The idea I am suggesting is to become more integrated with all of your aspects and allow the smartest one to lead.  That quiet inner voice is connected to the smartest aspect of ourselves, so why not give it a try.  Encourage yourself to trust in your own inner self.  Acknowledge it exists.  We are not just human, we are also very much spirit.  It is just that we often forget because we live in a culture that often puts spirituality in a box.  In these times and those to come, we will each need to tap into our many tools and start using them.  The days of "sitting on the fence" are rapidly ending and we will all have to make a choice to commit to what we will support, the truth or the illusion.

Let your heart be the guide

     Can you tell yourself what is in your heart that you want to experience right now?  The heart is the center of each of us in human form and it is a wise and powerful place.  It is not just the most important muscle in the body, it is also the heart chakra, the center of the energetic system of the body.  Our hearts have a direct line to our souls, and it is time that we start understanding and developing this awareness.  We are going to need it and we are going to benefit from it.  It is the "new" way.  Really, it is the old way that we have forgotten as a human culture and are now readying ourselves to reclaim.  When enough of us do this, it will transform our world culture in ways we can barely imagine.  Where do we begin?  With ourselves of course!  And how?  With self love.

     Self love of the heart can be expressed in many ways.  Here I'll outline a couple.  First, attend to your body and your physical self.  Find ways to move, to play, to sweat, exercise this muscle.  Build its strength and stamina so that you will have the "staying power" to feel strong and healthy.  Eat good, fresh, organic food.  Limit what you eat that comes out of a box, a can, or a restaurant.  Strengthening the body means more oxygen to your cells.  Our bodies really need this in this period because they are literally in a major process of change in order to operate in the new energies.  This isn't spoken about much at present, however you will start hearing more about the evolution of the body in coming years.

     Second is to take some time with your own energetic heart by yourself.  It doesn't have to be for very long, perhaps a few minutes during a quiet time of your day.  Talk to your heart as a wise being that loves you and supports you completely.  Put your hands on your chest if that will help.  Ask it to talk to you about what it wants to do, to live.  The heart is the seat of compassion and passion for each of us.  We have got to find ways to trust it more and act on its wisdom.  Doing this more will serve as a center of stability in these times of transformation.  In addition, if you have a partner, you can also do this practice with them in regards to your relationship.  First and foremost, do it with yourself.  Each of us has a unique and positive role to play in our own lives and in the communities we inhabit, but we've got to start going beyond the social norms to create a better experience for ourselves and our world.

Relationship

     I don't know about you, but when I see this word I immediately jump to the idea of relationship with another.  What I would like you to consider is instead think about yourself when you hear or read that word.  How is your relationship with yourself?  Can you be happier?  Do you want more fulfillment?  Of course you do!  It is self love that will get us there.  I will say this:  No one comes to life with the intention of suffering.  Sure, there are moments of difficulty that we all face.  Most of the unpleasant and negative things we experience we have brought upon ourselves because we were never taught how to love.  Begin where you are.  If you are saying that you feel scattered and have difficulty focusing, then work on grounding yourself energetically.  Get into your own space.  Turn off the electronics or keep them to the bare minimum as an experiment for a week.  Begin to identify what is you, and what is not you.  Then you will have the basis for claiming yourself and your domain.  Be the benevolent queen or king of yourself!

     We are now in a time of coming to understand our humanity in a new way.  This is called evolution.  It is happening, and it is huge.  We are so fortunate to be here at this time.  As much as I hear myself and others wish they could escape all of the dramas and stresses, I also know that deep inside I want to be here.  And in order to be here in the coming years, I am going to step up my "game" of living well by first loving and nurturing myself first, then taking that person out into the world.  I invite you to feel if this sounds good to you too.  We are all literally living through a quantum shift in consciousness that is unprecedented in our history.  Love yourself through this by paying attention to your desires and wants that come from your heart.  It is time to put away the old ways of being, the old tools for coping.

Self love as a way of connecting

     Loving yourself means little if you are unable to share your love with the world around you.  Relationship means first you attend to yourself, then you go out into the world as a complete being that is in integrity with yourself.  You are literally emanating a coherent vibration of energy wherever you go.  This will attract to you opportunities for connection.  They could be for love, for career, for friendship and more.  We are designed to connect to one another because when two are more are gathered, an additional energy is created.  While this cannot always be seen, it can be felt.  I know of no one who could not benefit by finding a new loving connection of whatever type.  Does this sound good to you?  Then, give some time to yourself to consider self love as a door to your improved living on this planet.  Again, start where you are at.  You can make a big positive difference just with those already in your life.  Believe you have a passion for more - more love from your relationships, and see what you can change to make it so.

Things are changing

     Our bodies are changing, our awareness is growing, our planet is changing.  All of this is part of the plan of evolution.  We each have a responsibility (ability to respond) to ourselves to love more (self-love).  The other option is to give into the fear, which many will do.  It will not go well for those who will dig their heels in and so no to the changes.  I do not expect myself to be perfect in my process, nor should you.  I do however want to continue to strengthen my intention to live from love as much as possible because I know that the world is not ending, it is going into great change, it is going into evolution and so are we.  Keep your heart as light as you can as you go through this.  Have compassion for those that suffer but do not sacrifice yourself or lower your vibration out of sympathy.  This is a planet of free will and free choice and sometimes choices need to be played out even if the consequences are not pleasant.  I believe that it is our job to be the light houses and hold firm to an inner knowing that love will triumph in each person's heart when the time is right.

     If nothing else, just consider my words and sit with all of this.  You will know when it is the right time for you to act in your life.  We are each moving into a process of becoming more than we were, and there is no single correct way to do this.  Stay centered.  Value your inner peace and let no one disturb it.  Spread love, not fear.  Speak your truth to yourself that you are valuable, you are loved, and you are in the right place and the right time in history.  If you are ready, look at that relationship with self and turn up the self love.  There is nothing to lose that you need, and everything to gain.



Blessings,


Robert