30 Aug Self-Love & Compassion
Loving others, loving myself, loving God. We can’t offer others what we first haven’t offered to ourself. It is critical to demonstrate self-love & compassion.
As Kahlil Gibran eloquently state, “And God said, Love your Enemy. And I obeyed and loved myself.” Often, we don’t learn to love ourself well, in our family of origin. Learning to love ourself as an adult is the beginning of true freedom.
Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist who specialized in dream work and archetypes, said, “That I feed the hungry, forgive an insult, and love my enemy — these are great virtues. But what if I should discover that the poorest of beggars and most impudent of offenders are all within me, and that I stand in need of all the alms of my own kindness; that I myself am the enemy who must be loved — what then?” You deserve self-compassion! Life is difficult and we must own the adult role of facilitating our own healing, through self-love.
Oftentimes, I find that we are our own worst enemy — that instead of offering ourselves compassion, we judge and condemn parts of our self. This creates a split within our mind, body and spirit. Instead of being fully integrated, loving, authentic human beings, we wear masks, trying to hide what we fear and judge. This stands in opposition to self-love!
Judgement of self and others is crippling. It is based in fear. If we can learn to focus our minds, hearts, spirits, on love — being congruent in all parts of our being — we learn to live, love ourselves, and find peace.
My goal in counseling is to help people become more of who they truly are. Let’s be more authentic, more compassionate human beings; to self, and others. “Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” ~ K.W. Together, we can start to remember.