Self-Love -- Prayers For Everyone

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Date Posted: 16:03:20 06/15/02 Sat
Author: Anonymous
Subject: Self-Love

"What is often overlooked is the importance of loving yourself along with everything else. After all, aren't you a part of the whole of Life? There's a wonderful Japanese poem - a haiku - which cleverly illustrates this. It goes, "My horse clip-clopping through the field. Aha! I am part of the picture!" As you grow to realize that you are an integral part of Life's grand picture, it becomes clear that loving yourself along with everything else is part of the deal.

Some of you may feel uncomfortable with the idea of self love, because it's often interpreted as being overly self involved. Many religions teach that total selflessness is the ideal, and that self love is the antithesis of being selfless. I'm not at all knocking selflessness, but is self love really opposed to selflessness? And is it the same as being too self involved? What actually is self love?"

This article contains some beautifully written passages about the true essence and expression of self-Love, which is actually an embrace of thanks to the Divine for the gift of life and the heart's joy of living, in disguise. Self-Love is utterly unrelated to egotism, which is sometimes an eggshell to encompass insecurity (and sometimes just ignorance, either way, one that is no joy to walk on); it is more related to optimism. How can a person allow themselves to be pervaded with the fullness of joy in being alive without the happiness of the gift of who they are given to be.

There are exercises in the article to foster self-Love. But even if some of the suggestions are good, perhaps they aren't really necessary. For an exercise in self Love, enjoy the day. Let the sunshine be your spirit. Let your everyday world be its own haiku in self-Love, and then let it be the loving rays that warmly extend to everyone around you.

"Our Sacred Marriage" by Kenneth Kalb

"I feel the sacred earth between my toes connecting me to this miraculous planet. I breathe the gift of vibrant prana. I feel the warmth of the life giving Sun kissing my face. I see the birds dancing on the limbs embracing the nectar of flowers. I feel the devas chuckling and fluttering in my ethers. I am humbled in the knowing of the delicate relationships and balances of nature which support all life forms. I am honored to be a conscious part of the One Great heart, a divine marriage with our Creator. I am a child of the stars, a flash of the source of which we are all a part. I know I will always live. Through my self love, I am granted access to all love."

By Kenneth Kalb

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