Within you, as within each one of us, there is an unbroken tie to the universe, an unending tap that flows with love. But it is as though most of us are standing on the cosmic hose that is sending love our way, while we scratch our heads bewildered, wondering where all the love has gone. When we are developing self-love, we need to look within at the ways in which we are blocking the flow to feel love, to feel loved.
Self-love is different from self-confidence or having a strong self-esteem, though they can be related. We are self-confident when we feel certitude in our ability to discern or act. Self-esteem involves a quiet assurance in our place within the whole, a feeling of being a valuable and welcome part of the universe. Self-love involves the ability to treat ourselves with understanding, kindness, patience and gentle perseverance. Deeper still, self-love involves our ability to know that our true nature is love and that our human destiny is to embody that love and express it in all we do.
For some, the notion of self-love may conjure images of over-indulgence, narcissism, egotism, vanity or selfishness. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. It is only when we love ourselves that we can truly love others. When we love ourselves, we begin to look at life not as something happening “to me”, but as a reflection of who we are. We don’t feel separate from people, places, and things. We feel closer to, even a part of, everything. There is a gentle sense of embrace that surrounds us at all times. We feel rooted, vital and expansive, able to participate in life and follow our true joy with openness and courage.
Self-love is not about being overly attached and fascinated with the notion of “me” or “mine”. Self-love is a sacred thing that brings us close to the divine. Self-love requires a paradigm shift that involves being able to feel connected to a force much greater than our limited ego. Self-love is a guiding light into our true, infinite nature, so that in turn we may truly love. Give this visualization a try and see how self-love increases in your life.
Visualization:
1. Find a quiet and relaxed environment where you feel safe and comfortable.
2. Lie on your back in a relaxed position, knees bent or legs outstretched, arms at your sides. Place a blanket over yourself for warmth.
3. Close your eyes and move your awareness inward. Breathe quietly. Allow your body to relax. Feel fully supported by the floor.
4. Imagine that a warm, strong and comforting red light, from the very center of the Earth, rises up through your feet and slowly moves into your body. The light rises through your ankles, legs, and hips, filling your legs full of red light. Feel the red light, the vitality, the warmth, the strength.
5. Allow it to continue to rise through your pelvis, through your abdomen, and into your heart. Let it rest in your heart. Feel the strength and the warmth of the red light in your heart.
6. Then sense or see a pure, white light descend from the heavens, through the crown of your head, filling your head full of radiant light. This radiant, white light continues to flood your being through your throat and shoulders, traveling down your arms, into your heart.
7. In your heart, the red light from the Earth and the white light from the heavens meet to create a soothing, pink light. Allow this light to expand through your heart and fill it up. It continues to expand and moves through your whole body/being until you feel every cell radiant, full of this loving, pink light. The light flows through you and around you, surrounding your body in a beautiful cocoon of pink, loving light.
8. Allow yourself to rest here, feeling loved. Feel the weight of your body on the floor, noticing how the ground unconditionally supports you. Feel the light move through you, unconditionally nurturing you.
9. Quietly invoke the sensation, feeling it through your entire being, radiant in your very soul, repeating: “I am love. I am loved. I am love. I am loved.” Continue repeating this until you feel it resonate in the very core of your being. You are love. You are loved.