Do You Feel Loved?

June 30, 2011 in Affirmations, Health & Wellness, Love, Self-Discovery Exercises, Spiritual by Tara

A message I wrote to myself on Venice Beach in CA.

I recently saw someone post this question on Facebook. The answers all ranged from strong yes’ to somber no’s. Lot’s of people who said “yes”, talked about loved ones who love them. However, I didn’t see too many of them talk about loving themselves. Actually, I don’t think I even saw one.

 

In my world, or opinion, whichever you prefer, I believe when you love yourself, you don’t need the love from another. How can they give it to you anyway? Love isn’t something you just hand over, buy or surgically implant into another being.

 

It took me a long time to even understand what real love is. I thought I knew. What a shocker when I looked back on my life and saw how mistaken I was. I have a better concept of it now and have been practicing Self-Love, habitually for the past 3 1/2 years. Most of the time it has been really easy to do. :smiles: Sometimes, I sort of forget, or fall short on it. And, rarely do I find it hard. However, it happens. Sometimes the light inside falls heavy and dark. I can physically feel it happen. Even in those times, there is no room for giving up, for turning off and shutting out the love. And in that heaviness, I know that love is still there under the pile of poopie. It may seem unreachable and difficult to conjure up. Yet it’s there. It’s ALWAYS there.

 

Not only have I learned how to truly love myself over the past few years, I’ve also realized that the love I have been searching for all my life, that very love, is me. I am the love that I have been searching for! It almost sounds crazy, when you conceive a thought like that. To be looking for something, that has been right here all along. Right under your nose. And above it and behind it and….. :laughter: That love is ME! Woah! How freeing! How awesome! How magical! So what’s better than to nurture THAT love? Which leads me to a quote by Osho that I totally adore, “When love is a state of being, it creates bliss. A Buddha is also in love, but he is not trying to love you. Simply because of the way he is, love spreads. Love becomes a perfume and goes to the far corners of the earth.”. Years ago I would have read this and thought it sounded nice and would probably want to feel something deeper when reading it. Now that I’m here, I feel it.

 

I believe love is a feeling. It’s birthed within us. One of the many inspiring things I have heard Jim Self, from Mastering Alchemy, say is, “I love me, when I am with you.”. These words made a huge impact on me and shifted my reality of love, even more. It feels so good to say to others. It feels so right when I word it that way. I’m not actually loving someone else, I’m loving myself when I am with them, or even thinking of them. (Ah-ha moment.)

 

Another person who has made an admirable impression on me is, Don Miguel Ruiz, who’s words in “The Mastery of Love” danced around in my ears and formed new patterns in my brain. It’s one of the handful of books in my night table, that I occasionally open to a random page. That page, without a doubt, always seems to be speaking directly to me. It nurtures my being.

 

Happiness never comes from outside of you. If you put your happiness in someone else’s hands, they can always take it away. Happiness can only come from inside of you and is the result of your love.”
– Don Miguel Ruiz

 

I’ve even attended workshops on Love. The first ones were at The Spiritual Living Center in Charlotte, NC., where I took an Essential Self class. We did various exercises and meditations, and picked ourselves apart through the book, “Undefended Love” (by Dr. Jett Psaris and Dr. Marlena S. Lyons). It was there that I was introduced to the late and great, Caroline Reynolds, who’s fun British accent always inspired me to feel rather chipper. Her exercises, in workshops and her book, “Spiritual Fitness” allowed me to make some major changes within myself – things that have stuck with me to this day. I’m so proud of myself for doing the work, taking the time and investing in such a prosperous project; Self-Love.

 

So when you find yourself asking questions like, “Does anybody love me?” Start with asking, “Do I love myself?”. If your answer is “yes” continue to nurture and practice that love. And if your answer is “no” or “I don’t know”, ask yourself, “What can I do to change that?”.

 

There are countless ways to explore love. And only one way to feel it. From within you.

 

Beauty From Love: “The best place to fall in love, is to fall into yourself.”

 

Love, Light & Laughter,

Tara