How To Love Yourself

Love Yourself First

Love Yourself First

Read "Love Yourself First" Super Serenity Sunday article by Genevieve Gerard

It is one of the great mysteries of life that in order to love others, it is essential to love yourself first.

I have often thought it was interesting that when Jesus, in his role of Rabbi and teacher, considered self-love as a basic element in life he taught that the most important law was to Love God with all of your heart, your mind and your Soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

What good is loving thy neighbor as thy self, if you don’t love thyself?
        – Donald L. Hicks

This famous teaching assumes as self-evident that you love yourself. Unfortunately, in my many years of counseling people and coaching them to live happier and more fulfilling lives, I observed that self-love is far from self-evident.

For many, the idea of loving yourself is challenging. It is not a basic part of self-evident consciousness as it may have been when Jesus walked the earth. It falls into the same category as forgiving yourself. For some reason many of us find it easier to give than to receive, loving yourself, forgiving yourself, being gentle and compassionate with yourself is something we need to learn.

Although this is logically counterintuitive it is a result of societal training and pressures that get confused as we strive to be and become what we are told that we should be. Unfortunately, this is most often seen in women who have been reinforced and rewarded by how self-effacing and self-sacrificing they can be.

Many lessons that are passed through the traditions from Mother to daughter do not consider or understand how harmful and damaging they can be. These are often subtle and specific but when accumulated, result in a message that is toxic and damaging. It is not that there is the intention to harm or limit the full expression of success and joy in the life being molded, but rather, parents are teaching what they were taught without the conscious awareness or consideration of the consequences and the impact of the cumulative effect of these life instructions.

The result is often a belief on the part of the child as they emerge into adult life that to love oneself, to nurture oneself and to let oneself receive, is in some way wrong. The wounding that this wrong teaching and wrong interpretation can result in is so pervasive and so deeply embedded in the myths and culture of our society that to break through to truth is often the most powerful transformation one can do to heal your life and embrace success.

To understand, release and reframe all of the subtle destructive messages that it is wrong to love ourselves and wrong to receive not only love but the vast array of blessings that are available for us is a profound journey that leads to joy, success, and empowerment.

One of the cornerstones of this transformation is learning to love yourself. Inherent in that concept is learning to receive and allowing yourself to receive. Loving yourself and opening yourself to receiving will change your life on so many levels and in so many ways that it may be beyond imagining. The success you can achieve, the joy and happiness you can experience will cascade through your life. As you dissolve the lies and illusions that keep you removed from the freedom of expressing you will enjoy being who you truly are.

Key Elements To Loving Yourself

There are inherent in this journey certain key elements and key experiences that have great significance and have the power to heal you on a very deep and profound level.

The first of these elements is to shed the illusion and reject the lies that you have been taught in favor of a realization of the truth. That truth is that you are an amazing being, a creature of love and joy and this is the natural expression of your being. In coming to the full realization of this truth, it is also an important step to forgive yourself for all the ways you have limited and denied your full power and potential to be all that you were meant to be and all that deep in your heart you knew you could be.

Along with the important act of self-forgiveness comes the act of forgiving those who perpetuated and propagated these untruths and wrong thinking. We can assume that they only taught what they believed or thought was right, handed down through generations. Illusion and lies become embedded in our society.

It takes courage to see the truth and let the truth free you. Forgiveness and even compassion for those who cling to wrong thinking, is a part of affirming and enhancing yourself in this new expression of life as someone who has learned to love themselves and opened themselves to the opportunity to be a being of love.

Forgiveness, both of yourself and those who taught and fostered mistakes and illusion unlocks grace and joy in your life. It is in these acts and affirmations of forgiveness that you begin to demonstrate what it means to not only love yourself but how that self-love results in love and compassion for others.

It is by loving yourself, and honoring yourself, that you manifest your true power and potential as a child of God.
        – Genevieve Gerard

You are an amazing being. You deserve to be loved, not only by yourself but also by others. You are a spark of Divine Light.

Open Yourself To The Energy Of Divine Love & The Love That Your Soul Brings To You with my Gift of Love Meditation MP3.

Learn more about the Gift of Love Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Here are some simple affirmations you can incorporate into your daily practice to allow this important principle of Self Love to manifest in your life. It is best if you can do these quick simple affirmations three times a day, perhaps in the morning as you do your morning rituals, once more during the day, then again as you cleanse and prepare yourself for sleep.

Love Affirmation

Look in the mirror and affirm the following:

  1. I Love myself
  2. I deserve to be loved exactly as I am
  3. I am worthy of being loved
  4. I give my love generously
  5. I accept the love of others appreciatively
  6. I delight in who I am becoming.
  7. I am a beautiful, successful, joy filled being
  8. I open myself to the love that surrounds me and gather it into my heart to support and strengthen me.

[NOTE: Some people prefer typing these affirmations on a small piece of paper that they stick on the upper corner of their bathroom mirror.]

               – GenevieveGerard.com

 

Affirmations are a powerful tool to healing and transforming your life. When I have had my coaching clients add these affirmations to their life practice, their life begins to change, especially their relationships with others and themselves.

To come into the present, freed and unfettered by the past is opening your life to unlimited possibility. This is available to you through the healing power of your Soul and the enlightened embrace of your will as you affirm and accept that you have the power, the promise and the intention to love yourself and open yourself to the many joys and blessings that are available to you for the taking.

The timeless dance of giving and receiving, loving and being loved is before you. Celebrate and enjoy all that comes to you. Your Soul knows the real truth; your heart knows the truth.

Ponder on this. You deserve it.

To Love Yourself is one of the Greatest Gifts, begin right now to give that gift to yourself.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 11-17-2019

 

Genevieve - Soulful

 

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.

Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.”  Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.

Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.

In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.

It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.

 

Copyright © 2014-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Discover How To Love Yourself

Discover How To Love Yourself

Read Discover How To Love Yourself by Genevieve Gerard

What does it mean to love yourself?

Discovering how to love yourself is an essential part of good mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Loving yourself is also demonstrated by the ways you take care of your body, by eating well, sleeping well and giving yourself the things you need to thrive, to grow and to be successful and happy.

Loving your self is one of the first and important steps to a successful loving relationship.

It might seem that to love yourself is so basic that it is easy and natural. However, in my many years as a counselor and a coach, I have found that for many people this is a challenge.

There is a lot of glamour and illusion about what it means to love. That is true when it comes to relationships and especially true when it comes to loving yourself. Loving yourself, honoring yourself and respecting yourself are foundations of a loving and healthy relationship.

It is said, that before you can love someone else you must first love yourself. So ask yourself what you can do to learn to demonstrate self-love if you realize it lacks in your life. Take the very first step to understanding and acknowledge that you are worthy of being loved, exactly as you are. In one of my previous articles “The Greatest Love”, there are eight affirmations you might find helpful in this process. (I have provided a link to that article at the bottom of this article.)

Relationships with others, especially romantic relationships, all too often fail to result in the fantasy of “happily ever after.” To sustain a real relationship you need to establish realistic boundaries of what you are willing to give in a relationship and what is not acceptable in a relationship. Knowing yourself, respecting yourself and being true to yourself in a relationship is vital.

Shakespeare said it well in Hamlet with Polonius’s advice to his son.

To thine own self be true. And it shall follow as the night to the day, thou can’st not be false to any man.

Being true to yourself and honest in your agreement’s with loved ones are critical.

My grandmother once gave me the sage advice:

Don’t put up with the first day in a relationship behavior you are not willing to accept for the rest of your life.

When I think of the times and ways that I failed to heed that advice, I see many of my life’s mistakes that could have been avoided in friendships, in romances and even in business relationships.

How To Love Yourself

Integral to my grandmothers advice is to both know and respect yourself, and honor and love yourself, as someone who is both deserving of love and who loves themselves.

It is wise to honor yourself, know yourself and then, in any new relationship consider what is acceptable to you. In this way, you are true to yourself, and you are beginning a new relationship open to a future built on honesty and mutual respect. This establishes a context in which you can learn to love one another, grow and thrive together.

A part of learning to love yourself is letting yourself both accept and receive the love that is all around you. There are so many ways that you can demonstrate your love and so many ways that love can enrich your life. Love is something that spans all of your relationships. It guides your relationships with friends, with family, and lovers. It is integral to your relationship with the Divine.

Love is available for you. Open your life to it. Love is all around you. Let yourself accept the love that is coming to you, from relations and God. Your Soul is an unlimited source for loving yourself. I have found you can open yourself to that love and receive that love directly through meditation.

Love truly makes the world go around and is fundamental and reflected in all of your relationships. Loving yourself is a guideline you can use in all of your relationships.

Accepting and appreciating Divine Love affirms that you are a spark of Divine Light, and you are worthy of receiving love. Using the love of God and the love that your Soul brings to you, demonstrates to you what it means to love.

Having received love, you are also a source for love in the world.
        – Genevieve Gerard

An essential element of your ability to love is also your ability to love yourself. In the love that you give, you can be a blessing to others. Ponder on this.

When you love someone, you value and appreciate who they are and accept them. The same is true about loving yourself. You are unique and special. Appreciate, accept and enjoy who you are.

You are not perfect, but there is no reason you should be. Treat yourself with the compassion you would show to another. You have made mistakes in your life. Forgive yourself. There are faults and issues you are striving to resolve. Be gentle with yourself.

You are in an ongoing process of growing, transforming and becoming more and more of the person you are meant to be. Support that in yourself, for yourself.

Life is all about learning lessons. No mistake is meaningless if you have learned from it and grown from it. When you show patience and compassion for yourself, it becomes easier to show patience and compassion to others.

By forgiving yourself, you become a more forgiving person. The compassion and grace that you open up to become available in all of your relationships. As you learn to accept and respect yourself, you are also learning how to accept and respect others.

Learning to love yourself is an ongoing lesson in how to love, that makes you a better person. By loving yourself, you are demonstrating the skills and behaviors that are needed to demonstrate your love to others.

Ultimately, you know love because God loves you unconditionally and this love is shown to you with unlimited forgiveness, profound grace, and acceptance. When you let yourself accept and receive this love you are empowered to be a force for love in the world. You become a better person, a happier person and a more successful person.

You can be love, give love, demonstrate love with respect and honor for both yourself and others. The more you love, the more joy that comes into your life and the happier you become.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

 

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Last updated 2-28-2019

 

Copyright © 2014-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC, All Rights Reserved.

 

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