Can You Love Yourself Before You Get the Validation You Seek?
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We’ve all heard stories about, and have personally known, people that seem to “have it all” according to society’s standards. They have the job, the partner, the money, the house(s), the cars, the fame etc…but their energy reveals the truth.
They are not satisfied.
They are empty.
They coveted things that could never bring them true joy and fulfillment. They didn’t prioritize the cultivation of self love and spiritual connection. Maybe they didn’t know how to. Perhaps those pursuits aren’t their “thing” and were never even on their radar.
What a journey it must be, to check all the boxes on the hypothetical list of “things to acquire in order to be considered successful” and find that it’s a dead-end.
Thankfully, we don’t need to choose between material prosperity and spiritual prosperity. And what a great fortune it is to know that the finest treasures of life are not bought or acquired…
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Self-love is a bit like unconditional love. The “self” and “unconditional” before the big “L” word are somewhat redundant and erroneous.
If love doesn’t include love of self, it is not love.
If love isn’t unconditional, it is not love.
To truly know love (and therefore self love and unconditional love), you must know who you are.
When you know who you are, you know love.
You know yourself as love.
You see the divine child within you and you adore them.
You see the motives behind your actions, and see they come from either ego/conditioning/programming/fear, or love.
You forgive yourself for previous unconscious behavior. You give yourself grace and acknowledge that yes, you’ve slipped up (and will likely slip up again) but goodness gracious - you’ve come SO far!
You don’t put people in boxes anymore, because you’ve observed yourself with depth over time, and you know that you are not your beliefs, and the same goes for everyone else in this world.
You don’t feel sad about things that you perceive as being absent from your life - you are grateful for the wealth of gifts you get to see and feel and share.
You understand that things aren’t withheld from you as a punishment. The vast intelligence is not exerting cruelty upon you - EVER.
The timing of your life is exactly as it needs to be in order for you to grow.
To grow in awareness, in capacity, in wisdom, in strength, in clarity, in vision, in skill, in curiosity and creative prowess.
Consciousness delights in experimentation. In refinement. In paradox.
Your challenges are some of the juiciest fruits of this dimension.
Your quirkiness, your not-quite-fitting-in-ness, the global crises that send pangs to your heart that your peers may or may not care about - these are your trademarks.
Your inability and refusal to fit into the mold and go about business as usual is a triumph for the universe.
Your bold choice to not turn your back on your human family makes you a hero.
Your audacity to bloom, even in the strangest of circumstances, in the dark, without anyone holding your hand and guiding you by torchlight…
…makes you lovable beyond comprehension.
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You know, I never really “got it” in the past when people said “you’re worthy because you exist.”
That simply existing makes you worthy of love.
That to be here is to be enough.
But now, I think I’m starting to get it.
In this miracle of life, in this wonder of existence, there are no accidents.
This divine design is at work, always.
In service to expansion.
Which includes contraction. And pain. And evil, and hunger, and lust, and death, and lies, and deep, pervasive amnesia.
And here you are. In the trenches, surrounded by the unknown. Surrounded by uncertainty.
A mystery within a mystery.
Forging your path. Sending your signals. Opening your heart more and more through it all.
You are not empty.
You are not small.
You are not alone.
You were never abandoned.
And you were never meant to fall in line.
You are, and always have been, an embodiment of pure and sacred love.
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And as that pure and sacred love reveals itself more and more (or should I say - as you notice it more and more) you remind others that they too, are pure and sacred love.
All wounds healed.
All fears fade.
And all your masks and suits of armor slip into memory, placed carefully in a museum of time that is revered and honored
as the place that holds
the things you needed
until you felt safe enough
to let
them
go.
(Keep going!!! ❤️)
