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Self-Love Rehab:
Step 2
Treat Yourself the Way You Would Treat a Precious Friend or Lover
We daily identify with our body, our personality, our temperament, our possessions, and we need to remind ourselves that within the house of our familiar self resides The Self. A spark of the great creative force, the universal consciousness, lives within us, expressing through us. It guides us, protects us, and provides for us. When you treasure and love yourself, you are honoring and loving that divine spark, which is the center of your being.
Loving yourself means loving The Self. As you walk through your day, remain aware of how you treat yourself. Begin to inquire about your habits and daily routine. Start with simple things:
· How do you greet each new day? What loving, simple actions do you take to nurture yourself in the morning? Do you stare into the mirror and criticize yourself? Or do you find yourself worthy of appreciation?
· When you're making yourself breakfast, do you consult lovingly with yourself on what would be nurturing and appropriate to consume each morning? Do you take time to enjoy your food, which by extension means enjoying time with yourself? When you pour your bowl of cereal or make your toast, do you serve it with a smile? Or do you just swallow it in one helping as you rush off to do life's bidding?
· When you're selecting your wardrobe for the day, do you consider what will add joy to your day, or make you feel fun and flirty, or do you simply contemplate how others will perceive your look?
· Throughout the course of the day, do you take time to ask yourself, "How do I feel" "What's going on," as you would inquire of a spouse, child, or friend?
· Do you take moments through the thick of the day to enjoy the sky, someone's smile, a child at play - those little gifts of life that inspire?
· At the end of a day, do you take time to relax, laugh, share a story with loved ones, listen to their tales, meditate, sit silently, or write down thoughts?
The actions I've asked you to commit to self inquiry are all tiny manifestations of love towards oneself. Devotion is love in action. And when you are devoted to your true being, you are devoted to life, to others, and to the Creator. So, please, take a little time to devote to yourself - today.
-Nomi
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