One day you’re looking in the mirror and you LOVE what you see and who you are… but then you go into work and your boss’s words cause you to feel deflated and your energy drops.
Or you look in your closet and decide that nothing will look good on you today. You wish you could change your whole wardrobe and feel sad that you’re not like so-n-so who has their shit together.
Sometimes we know that just moments ago we were “THEM” the Personified Being of our Dreams, but now we feel plain, meek, and like we’re dragging down our own show.
Self love is an inside job, yes, but it is frequently the most erratic and volatile love we know. One glance at someone else and we’re comparing, judging, and worse, deprecating our selves. This is not Love. This is infatuation and we need to call a spade a spade to find what real self love is.
Real Self Love is Love for our ability to experience “self” in the first place.
Self love is appreciation for the experience of being alive in the world as it is. It is expansive, all encompassing, and ever changing.
Next time you’re feeling like your self love is being manipulated by your mind’s current flavor of thought, I want you to see yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you. Be it your child, your parent, your pet, or even you, 5 minutes ago. Imagine that they see you as a Divine Being that reflects the universe in her every action (you do), who is a conduit for energy (you are), and who can manifest her world based on how she arranges her thoughts (yep).
Tell that inner voice to shut up and intentionally start to remind yourself that:
Your inner beauty is your unique beauty but it’s also the universe’s . Your mind is your mind, but it’s also the universe’s, and your power is your power, but, again, also not yours alone. The only constant is change and you will never be happy if you’re constantly trying to fit a snake back into its old skin or trying to be somebody else who is already occupy the space.
The next time you see yourself in mindset of self deprecation, I want you to try this:
Do something different. Like, WILDLY different. Go for Shock Value.
Switch it up on yourself and on the universe.
Wear something that you wouldn’t be caught dead in (even though its in your closet already…)
Play different music
Take a different route to work or school.
This will derail your mind. It will snap it out of its loop of crap and shift your focus.
Another tactic is to mediate on how your “self love” is actually Self Love.
In many spiritual traditions, the Self is within the self. It is inseparable and does not die but evolves and connects.
There is no point in which you will reach “The Self”. You are the universe manifest. You are here for the experience, not the end goal.
Love is an emotion that is fleeting and ethereal, it can be brought on by thoughts…
Choose to derail the thoughts and bring them towards love more and more, and you will see love show up more and more.
This is a practice that will never cease. Its also a practice that will not leave you worn out but instead will give you peace.
Try one of these methods and tell me your thoughts in the comments.
SUNYATA YOGA 