The greatest gift you will ever receive is the gift of loving and
believing in yourself. Guard this gift with your life. It is the only
thing that will ever truly be yours. Tiffany Loren Rowe
So many people associate the concept of self-love with narcissism which actually is a lack of self-love! But truly loving ourselves as God loves us is a compassionate place to be in our lives.
Our love of self provides the passion to be with that other person in a loving way!
So today I give myself permission to love myself as I would love my neighbor! That truly is a gift from the Almighty!
I’m learning to love myself in all my human imperfection. I’m learning to love my body and give gratitude to my body for all of the hard work it does every single day. Jon Kabat Zinn reminds us, “As long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than there is wrong, no matter how ill or how hopeless you may feel.”
And with the help of Yoga and meditation I am learning that the mind and the body are not two separate entities, let alone opposing enemies, they are one and the same creation and work together in harmony just like my left hand works with my right hand!
When I Love Myself, it gives me strength, courage, focus, and determination that I so much need in order to Break FREE of Addiction for LIFE!
This is especially true during NML when we aren't living the challenge minute by minute but are blindsided by our Addictive Minds out of nowhere, or after a tragedy or great misfortune such as losing a job or having a serious illness, or even, yes, after an extraordinary Victory when we think that we "deserve a Sickerette!"
What I deserve is my FREEDOM! I deserve to live LIFE Abundantly as My Creator intends - Smoke FREE for LIFE! And I LOVE Myself enough to recognize the paradox and make the Correct DECISION!
So just for TODAY I will LOVE Myself as I would Love my neighbor! I will stop blaming myself for my Addiction and for my Smoking related illness.
Who would wish Addiction on ANYBODY? Surely we DESERVE Addiction FREEDOM!
