Love. It sounds simple. Four little letters, one little syllable. Giving love, receiving love, observing love, recognising love. It definately sounds simple enough. It's even used simply. You can love elephants, love a ($600!) pair of shoes, Iove eggplant drizzled in honey. It's simple enough to use love to describe how you feel about objects, experiences or even food for that matter. It's not so simple when we apply it to ourselves.
Self love. It's not so simple I've discovered. In fact, it's very complicated. The hardest love of all to achieve is the love we have for ourselves. Warts and all love, absolute love, love for the icky stuff, love for the shameful stuff, love for the shiny, joyous and happy stuff. Unconditional, no matter what love.
For me, the road to self love has been a rocky one indeed. When we come into this life we are shiny and new. Completely unspoiled. We are loved unconditionally, no matter what. Over time, that love can become judgemental and tarnished. It can become conditional and hurtful.
This is the love that comes with a voice. That inner voice inside us that tells us we can't, that were not good enough, pretty enough, important enough.
The rockiest part in developing my self love has been the influence of my inner voice. It has berated me, guilted me, abused me, hurt me. It has called me names, isolated me. It has given me grief for the simple act of dropping a spoon. A spoon!
Thankfully, there came a time when a shift occurred. When amongst all the pain, grief and negativity a little seed was planted. A little seed I like to call the love seed. Little by little I watered the love seed with understanding. I fertilised it with kindness. I sunned it with warm hugs. And my love seed grew. And it grew. And grew.
And so a blog was born. This blog is dedicated to my love journey. The journey I have travelled and continue to travel. On this journey there have been some loving and joyous destinations. There have been destinations that have been cold and unwelcoming. The inhabitants and climates in these destinations have varied. Each one with their lessons to impart. This is my journey. A journey I wouldn't change and am so happy to travel. I am just as happy to be along for the ride. So I'm jumping in, I'm buckling my seatbelt and I'm continuing forward. First stop, Codependent Ville...population, me.
Self love. It's not so simple I've discovered. In fact, it's very complicated. The hardest love of all to achieve is the love we have for ourselves. Warts and all love, absolute love, love for the icky stuff, love for the shameful stuff, love for the shiny, joyous and happy stuff. Unconditional, no matter what love.
For me, the road to self love has been a rocky one indeed. When we come into this life we are shiny and new. Completely unspoiled. We are loved unconditionally, no matter what. Over time, that love can become judgemental and tarnished. It can become conditional and hurtful.
This is the love that comes with a voice. That inner voice inside us that tells us we can't, that were not good enough, pretty enough, important enough.
The rockiest part in developing my self love has been the influence of my inner voice. It has berated me, guilted me, abused me, hurt me. It has called me names, isolated me. It has given me grief for the simple act of dropping a spoon. A spoon!
Thankfully, there came a time when a shift occurred. When amongst all the pain, grief and negativity a little seed was planted. A little seed I like to call the love seed. Little by little I watered the love seed with understanding. I fertilised it with kindness. I sunned it with warm hugs. And my love seed grew. And it grew. And grew.
And so a blog was born. This blog is dedicated to my love journey. The journey I have travelled and continue to travel. On this journey there have been some loving and joyous destinations. There have been destinations that have been cold and unwelcoming. The inhabitants and climates in these destinations have varied. Each one with their lessons to impart. This is my journey. A journey I wouldn't change and am so happy to travel. I am just as happy to be along for the ride. So I'm jumping in, I'm buckling my seatbelt and I'm continuing forward. First stop, Codependent Ville...population, me.