
At a networking meeting I once had an acquaintance ask me if I love myself. This was, I thought, a provocative question. I feared if I shared that I don’t actually love all of me, I would come across as not “enlightened” enough for this person’s approval or standards.
(I truly don’t think she meant to set me up.)
I have come to realize that as I grow and change and live and stumble and get stuck and thrive– my loving relationship with myself will ask me to pay attention—keen attention– to all of me. To see myself. To accept myself. Bringing my breath to who I truly am in any given moment—including: my warmth; my fear; my trust; my debt; my eyes; my cellulite; my power; my compassion; my direction; my anger; my frustration; my muscle; my breasts; my toe hair; my heart, etc.. To what extent, can I bring myself to any of these parts of me? Even the parts that I don’t like so much. To what extent can I love the judgmental part of me that doesn’t want my scar tissue?I believe being able to hold, breathe into and engage with rather than fight myself, is the act of loving me.
This ability to learn to see myself and be myself is freeing. It is what helps me feel all of my feelings.
When my clients arrive, I listen and learn to care for them in this way. I support them learning to love themselves and one another with this spirit.
It is freeing. It is full. It is real. And, it is intimate.