Creating a Love Affair with Your Life

This past week I have been falling in love with a quote from Oscar Wilde:

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

This quote is inviting us to embrace ourselves with love and by doing so begin to fall in love with our life.

When I think of a person that is in love - be that with another Being, or something that they are creating - they literally beam and glow with the energies of love and it is contagious. You can’t help but smile and light up with them as you witness the love affair that is unfolding. 

When we can offer that same love to ourselves it touches everything, the people that we are in connection with, the environments that we find ourselves in, and the very way we move through our lives. The ripples of the energy of love emanate from our very cells, lighting up ourselves and everything we connect with the glow of love.

I’m a hundred percent aware that the invitation to be in a lifelong love affair with ourselves and our life is easier said than done. 

What stops us?

I know for me, I have a time frame in my late teens and early 20’s where I had anything but self-love. I was trapped in a feedback loop of self-loathing, self-rejection, and self-harm. I hated different aspects of myself. I hid parts of me that I thought no one would understand. I locked away my heart so that it would not be hurt again. I became a master chameleon changing shapes based on who was in front of me. Layer after layer of protective mechanisms and fears grew within me. I was so afraid of being harmed by others that I was imprisoning my heart, creating a massive ocean that separated me from showing up as my true self.

At one point I heard the story of the Golden Buddha that helped me look at my own system completely differently. In the 1950's a group of monks in Thailand were relocating a clay Buddha statue and they noticed there was a crack in the clay. When the monks looked closer they saw a golden light emanating from the crack. They chiselled away the clay and found that the whole statue was in fact made of gold and the clay was just on the outside! Historians believe the Golden Buddha had been covered with clay by the monks hundreds of years beforehand to protect it from attacks and theft.

When I heard the story I saw my own life, thoughts, actions, and beliefs as the layers of clay covering up my true self that was precious and wanted to shine and emanate its light within the world. I realized that hating myself and judging myself for building those layers was not the way to dissolve them, in fact, it just increased the inner war and division within me. I needed to find a way to embrace and love those aspects of me so that they would release on their own. They needed my compassion and honoring not my hate and judgements.

Swapping out the Soldier for the Lover

Little by little, layer by layer I began to switch from trying to wage war within myself to try and bring forward a different way of being to instead embracing the stance of the Lover archetypal pattern in the Light. Each one of those protective layers was trying to help me the best way they knew how. Bullying them to put down their weapons or else wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be. However, the energies of self-love and compassion would help them willingly surrender their weapons and open to a better way of protecting me - the power of love.

I share more about the process of embracing a willingness to love oneself in Episode 23 of Soulful Practices Podcast. Watch this episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify.

Affirmation for Self-Love based on the second principle of Reiki:
For all of today, I walk with Love and Compassion, especially when I find a part of myself that is lost, hurt, and separated from my light. 

Offering you light, love, and JOY on your journey of falling in love with your life!
Michelle 

PS: Interested in attuning yourself to greater love and compassion? Connecting with JOY! our online membership community might be just what you are looking for. Connecting with JOY is the perfect Soul Companion for you on your journey offering over 300 hours of wisdom teachings, meditations, and journal prompts to support you on your journey of creating a lifelong love affair with yourself and your life! Click here for more information and how to join us within Connecting with JOY!