To be a loving person who is easily loving towards your spouse, kids, family, friends, work buddies, clients and even with your business and job, you have to first love your SELF!

The relationship you have with yourself is the blueprint that sets the tone and characteristics of your relationships with other people.

The secret to creating a successful, loving relationship with another lies in first learning and knowing how to love oneself.

Self-Love attracts good people and even more love into your life and it also quenches the “need” for someone else to “fill up your cup”.

We all know that we are to be considerate, kind, loving, accepting and generous towards other people but are we considerate, kind, loving, accepting and generous towards ourselves?

Do you ever tell yourself how amazing and wonderful YOU are? Do you acknowledge your inner and outer beauty, and your amazing gifts and talents? Do you demonstrate to yourself the qualities you wish to give to – and receive from others? Are you intimate, honest and respecting of yourself? Are you committed and faithful to you?

Your relationship with yourself will be mirrored in your relationships with other people. What we cannot give and receive from ourselves makes us lack an authentic ability to do so with others.

More often than not people are in the habit of giving themselves anything but self-love. We are usually very good at reminding ourselves of how poorly we are doing and how much better we ’should’ and could be and we block our evolution by resisting self-love and acceptance because we are consciously and subconsciously buying into limiting (and untrue) beliefs about ourselves. These beliefs are often formed in childhood and influenced by parents, friends, society and media and may include thoughts such as; “I’m not good enough”, “I’m bad”, “I don’t deserve…”, “I’m unlovable”, “It’s not right to be this or that”, “I’m all wrong”, “I’m stupid, silly, ridiculous.” etc, etc.

Yet, your worth is a given. It is inherent by virtue that you exist! You are a spark of divinity, a miracle of creation itself, and we were all taught that God LOVES all his children, and finds them all of equal worth. But do we let ourselves truly FEEL that?

“Worth is a quality, not a quantity. You can neither add to nor diminish your worth. When you act or react in Reality to become more worthy, you will always fail. Stop trying to become worthy and start seeing your own worth.” – Lazaris

So my dear one… my invitation and challenge for you this week is to practice this art of self-love and acceptance, and see what it does for you. Be loving, kind and nurturing towards the amazing being that you are. Tune in with your self and tell yourself over, and over, and OVER all the positive things you can possibly think off that you already know to be absolutely true about you, such as; I love myself, I approve of myself, I accept myself, I am a good person, I am powerful, I am creative, I am bold, I am fun, I am loving, I am caring, I am a great parent, I am a good friend, I am funny, I am witty, I am reliable, I am giving, I can accomplish anything I want to accomplish, I am in control of my life, I am beautiful, I am a loving spouse. etc, etc, and then remind yourself of all the wonder you deserve in your life; … I deserve to be happy, I deserve a good life, I deserve to be healthy, I deserve love, I deserve all good things.. and basically whatever else may come to you.

Whenever you ‘hear’ your limiting thoughts surfacing, wanting to tell you otherwise, even telling you how silly or stupid this exercise is:)… just let those thoughts come and then float away as you bid them farewell and tell them “no, thank you, I am not buying into negativity”. Then, you can literally overwhelm those thought and fade them out with even more positive thoughts and affirmations. Our limiting beliefs have often been circulating in our minds for years and years so it can take some time and practice to get that habit off of its automatic setting and to consciously choose to think and feel differently.
I challenge you to try this out, as often as you possibly can, and say it out loud in the car, in the shower, to the mirror and then keep saying positive things to yourself even when you are around other people, although you may choose to do so in silence:)

YOU hold the key to change how you think, feel, and live your life. You have the power to literally ‘manufacture’ your own happiness.

Here’s to the Powerful, Creative, Loving YOU!

Happy Valentines Weekend…