After over 2 years of isolating and limiting who we spend time with, I know that I often think about the relationships that matter most to me.
Who do I want to stay connected with? And the relief that I can let some relationships go.
But I also notice that I am expressing my emotions more (and that says something since I am very expressive normally). I am working on not stuffing negative emotions.
But more importantly…I am making a daily effort to tell people I love them, give praise, and encourage people.
My father relocated to Tucson from Washington state this past fall. He is 80 and many of our conversations (I see and talk to him more now that he’s closer) center around him processing his life.
He is still haunted by negative comments people said to him when he was growing up.
Ironically, some of the messages that have most affected him were not from family members but random adults that lived in his Chicago neighborhood.
The sad part is that those messages have kept him from loving himself fully.
This Valentine’s Day, how can you bring more love into your life?
It all starts within you.
Yes, I am a Stone Soup gal. There is more than enough for all of us especially if we come together and share what we have.
That applies to love too. I live from a place of abundance but I haven’t always showered myself with that abundant love.
Love comes from a place of abundance.
The truth is…that we can love more and receive more love when we live in a place of abundance.
Sadly, my dad comes from a place of scarcity.
My gift is to help him to shift away from a scarcity paradigm and fully embrace a life of abundance. It is a journey but I am so excited to see how he is slowly manifesting this new way of living.
He has a new lady friend and I can see already how he has changed.
Here’s a secret.
The more love you give, the more love that comes back to you. It grows exponentially.
Start with you. Love yourself unconditionally.
The truth is that I have struggled with self-love.
In 2020, I came across the book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It. Little did I know that it would trigger one of the most profound mental shifts that would transform not only the direction of my artwork but my art business.
While the author, Kamal Ravikant, gives us many strategies for loving ourselves more while sharing his journey towards radical self-love, one simple mantra made the biggest shift in me (I tweaked it a little). It is my daily mantra and one I share with my students, artist coaching clients, family, friends, and, well anyone who will listen 🤣:
I love myself unconditionally. I forgive myself and let things go.
When do I use it?
- When I am mentally beating myself up.
- When I make a mistake.
- When I need some grace in my life.
- When I wake up.
- Before I go to bed.
- When I’m feeling anxious.
- When I am depressed.
- When someone is mean to me.
My Valentine’s Day gift to you is that mantra. Write it down on a sticky note and put it on your bathroom mirror, your computer monitor, refrigerator…anywhere you will see it and remember to say it.
Pay it forward. Share it with others.
Is there someone in your life that you haven’t told that you love them?
Send them a text now. I have been doing this with all my friends old and new.
The best part is that my declarations of love are coming from a place of abundance now not from a deep hole of unworthiness that I used to try to fill. You know that place, “I love you, please love me back.”
Now it comes from an overflowing well of love.
The more I embrace radical self-love, the less I need to hear other people say, “I love you” back, and the more I need to say it to them.
It’s true. What we put out into the world comes back to us.
So today, I shower you will love and hope you take time for some self-love.