top of page

LOVE YOURSELF CHALLENGE

 

 

Final Week -

Love Yourself, Love others

When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, 'You're either going to love yourself or hate yourself.' And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.

- Queen Latifah
 

If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.                                                                                          - Barbara De Angelis

Embracing Self-Love
love yourself, love others

One weekend, I was participating in a life coaching workshop and we were focusing on being present with things we find difficult. We were exploring our own self-judgments as well as judgments we make against other people.  It was a mentally and emotionally trying weekend.  On the last night, I went to bed full of all kinds of emotions and completely exhausted.  In the middle of the night I woke up to my own voice.  I heard myself saying out loud to myself > "I love myself".  It startled me out of my sleep and as I registered what I had said to myself I exclaimed "YA I LOVE Myself!"  I felt it.  Truly felt it.  And just as I said it, I was filled with love from my toes to the tip top of my head.  I was filled with so much love that it began to overflow and pour out of me.  In that moment I understood that to fully love yourself is to love everything that exists and to lose all fear.  You lose all fear of not being loved, of not being good enough, of not being worthy.  This beautiful, sweet love already existed inside of me. No one had to give it to me, I didn't have to do anything to get it or earn it.  Somewhere in my dream state I declared it out loud and it flowed freely through me and out of me.  I experienced that when you allow yourself to feel unconditional love yourself, your cup truly runs over. You have so much love inside of you it has to be shared. Love in it's purest form will not be contained.

 

This final week, make a commitment to move towards self-love.  Set an intention to love yourself. NOW. Not tomorrow, not after things change and your life is "perfect".  None of us came to earth to be perfect. No one.  We came here to be human, to make mistakes, to learn to grown and through it all CHOOSE LOVE.  If you ask me what the meaning or purpose of life is I would say - it's that no matter what happens we choose Love. We choose it for ourselves and for others.  And through choosing love, we are healed and so is the world. We are free.  We don't make decisions or experience life based on feeling inferior or neglected.

 

Be compassionate towards yourself.  Self-compassion doesn't mean you're going to be "easy" on yourself or get "lazy".  Self-compassion isn't self-indulgent; it creates space to improve yourself. Self-criticism on the other hand produces self defeating emotions and thoughts.  We often hear "treat others they way you'd like to be treated".  You know what - how about "Treat yourself the way you would like to be treated by others".   That means treat yourself - with love, with care, with understanding, with forgiveness, with respect. Cherish yourself, you are a jewel.  There is no one else on earth just like you. It has been a pleasure guiding you on this journey of self-love.  Because you are taking the time to love yourself, , the world is a more loving compassionate place.  For that , I am grateful to you. Loads of love,  Yesenia

This weeks challenges

Do:

  • Listen to the meditation to Start your day in the morning and the gratitude meditation before you go to sleep every day.

  • Listen to the sacred space of your heart meditation several times during the week.  This will help you connect to the fountain of love that exists inside of you already. As a spark of the Creator/Universe it is your birthright.

  • Practice Gratitude - make a list of at least 3 things daily you are grateful for.  Put yourself in someone else's shoes - what about you would someone else say they are grateful to you for?

  • Acknowledge yourself - make list of things you can acknowledge yourself for. (we often don't make time to recognize our own achievements). Keep the list, when you are feeling down it is a great thing to read to remind yourself of your resilience and strength, and capabilities. Here are some examples:

    • i.e : I make it to work on time everyday.

    • I graduated from high school/college

    • I love my children (not everybody does!)

    • I treat people with kindness

  • Journal - Continue to journal.  This will help integrate the internal changes you are making and continue to bring you clarity.

Bonus exercises:

  • Sitting quietly, tap on your heart as you say any or all of the following (feel free to make up your own):

    • "I love myself"

    • "I care about my well-being"

    • "I cherish myself"

  • Bring awareness to your actions.  Self-love is reflected in our every day decisions.  Before making a decision or taking an action ask yourself - is it in line with me loving and honoring myself? How are you caring for your body?  What are you eating/drinking and are you exercising?  Do you take time to walk your dog but don't take time to take care of your own body? Do we say no to people or do we say yes too often and compromise our own well-being or goals? How do you spend your money?  Is it in a responsible way that creates peace or do you spend too much and create stress for yourself?  BE SURE NOT TO JUDGE YOURSELF! You are only bringing awareness to what you do (don't forget compassion).

  • Spend some quality time alone.  Challenge yourself - go for a meal alone.   Take a walk by yourself.  Learn to enjoy your own company!

Meditation to Begin Your Day
To Begin Your Day - Alba Ambert (Paramita Path)
00:00 / 00:00
Gratitude & Grounding Meditaiton
Connect to the
Sacred Space of your Heart
Final Video Coming soon

 

week two - Forgiveness

“I don't know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, 'Well, if I'd known better I'd have done better,' that's all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, 'I'm sorry,' and then you say to yourself, 'I'm sorry.' If we all hold on to the mistake, we can't see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can't see what we're capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one's own self."

+ Maya Angelou

Forgiveness & Self Love

This week our focus is going to be on forgiveness and it's relationship to self-love.  Last week we set some groundwork by healing the scars of the heart.  The purpose of healing the heart was to do so in order to create more space for the experience of love to reside within yourself.  Why now focus on forgiveness?  Forgiveness is important for a variety of reasons, but especially because complete healing isn't possible without the grace of forgiveness.  If you don't forgive yourself or others for the harm that has been inflicted on you, the anger or resentment or judgement you hold onto is a weight that holds you down and hinders your freedom to fully experience joy, peace and love. 

 

Forgiveness has nothing to do with the other person but everything to do with gifting yourself peace and the opportunity to be more than what someone did to your or a set of circumstances. Forgiveness doesn't mean you forget.  Or that you allow someone to treat you poorly (don't forget self-love!).  Forgiveness means you choose love.  You choose peace.  You choose inner harmony for yourself instead of holding onto toxic emotions like anger and resentment.  I asked my daughter why she thought forgiveness was important and she gave me a great answer - "being angry and mad doesn't do anything to the other person because all those feelings are inside you, it's better not to hold on to them so you can be happy".  Simple. True.

 

Forgiveness cultivates compassion for others and yourself.  None of us are perfect, and we have to know that each one of us, including ourselves does the best they can at any given moment.  Is there anything you've done that you haven't forgiven yourself for or feel guilty about?  If you have been carrying around a sense of shame or guilt or anger at yourself for some reason it's time to let it go.  It's time to understand that life happens.  Acknowledge your feelings ("I'm hurting"  "I feel anger towards myself" etc.) , forgive yourself and move forward so as Maya Angelou says "you can see your own glory in the mirror" and not the mistake that keeps you from loving yourself unconditionally.

This weeks challenges

Do:

  • Write a list of things you need to forgive yourself for.  Listen to the Forgiveness meditation and have the intention to forgive yourself.  Shred or safely burn your list as a symbol of letting those things go.

  • Write a list of the people you need to forgive.  Listen to the forgiveness meditation and visualize yourself forgiving them individually or as a group. Shred or safely burn your list as a symbol of letting them go.

  • Listen to the forgiveness meditation as many times as you need to.

  • Listen to the Sphere of sunshine meditation - this will fill your heart with joy & hope.

  • Journal - Continue to journal.  This will help integrate the internal changes you are making and continue to bring you clarity.

Bonus exercises:

  • Forgiveness doesn't mean that the hurt feelings go away right away.  If they come up again, acknowledge how you feel (honor it) and remind yourself that you choose to forgive.

  • Explore your relationship with forgiveness - Journal about what you learned about forgiveness in your family growing up.  Where you taught forgiveness? What has your experience of forgiveness been?

  • Self Compassion: Visualize yourself at a time in your life when you made a mistake and needed forgiveness.  Hold that image of yourself and have the intention to send yourself love.

Forgiveness Meditation
Sphere of Sunshine meditation
Week Two Video

 

week one

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
– Louise L. Hay

AWARENESS & HEALING OF THE HEART

This week we are going to focus on awareness and the healing of your heart.   The first step is to check in with how you feel and think about yourself.  Pay attention to your thoughts throughout the day.  You don't have to do anything about them or try to think differently.  I just want you to notice what goes on in your thoughts.  Do you have nice things to say about yourself?  Are you judging or criticizing yourself?  Are you having thoughts that tell you you're not good enough?  Are you being kind to yourself?  Just notice, and don't judge yourself for what you find yourself thinking!  Once you bring awareness to these thoughts you will find they don't hold so much power.  My suggestion is to notice the thought and surrender it to the Creator or an Angel or the Universe.  Whatever imagery will help you release these false thoughts.  Do the same with your emotions.  What emotions are you experiencing as you go through your day?  How do you feel when you're at work?  Do you have self doubt or fear?   Just notice your emotions in different situations without any judgment.  Notice how your heart feels.  Does it feel tight or open?  All we are doing here is noticing.

 

The second step is to heal your heart. Loving yourself is deep, deep work.  As you heal yourself,  the whole world heals as well.  That's how powerful it is.  Not all of us have had a perfect life. We've all had our hearts broken or disapointed at one time or another.  Some worse than others but suffering is suffering.  As time goes by,  our hearts develop emotional scars and wounds and from what I've seen in my healing practice - walls can be created around the heart that make it difficult for people to receive, experience or give love.  It's a protection mechanism and I completely understand why it happens.  However, to fully experience joy and love ourselves, these wounds need to be healed.  I urge you to be kind to yourself, to be compassionate to yourself during this month.  Treat yourself as you would a small child - with patience, love and care.  The Meditation to heal your heart has been recorded with the vibration of love and healing.  When you listen to it,  have the intention to receive all the healing and love you can, as never before.  Pure Love is right here waiting, closer to you than your breath - and there is nothing you have to do or change to have it.  It is yours by Divine right.

 

 

This weeks challenges

Do:

  • Be aware of your thoughts.  Notice if the thoughts are kind to yourself or not. 

  • Find a quiet space and set your intention to participate in the Love Yourself Challenge over the next month. 

  • Set your intention to receive healing from the Creator/Universe that will be available to you this month and while you listen to the meditations.  Listen to the Meditation to Heal your Heart.  Listen to this meditation at least once, but listening to it everyday will help anchor the healing.

  • Listen to the Dissolve Dense thoughts and Emotions meditation.  I suggest listening to this one daily for the week and anytime through the month you find yourself being especially negative.

  • Journal - even if it's a couple of sentences at the end of a day.

Bonus exercises:

  • When you catch yourself saying something negative, let it go and replace it with thinking something positive about yourself.

  • Tell a friend or loved one that you are setting the intention to love yourself

  • Mirror exercise: Stand in front of a mirror, look at your eyes and tell yourself "I love you" several times.  Notice how you feel.  For some people this can be very difficult.  That's ok, just notice how you feel

Meditation to Heal your Heart

Dissolve Negative

Thoughts & Emotions

Dissolve Dense thoughts & Emotions - Paramita Path
00:00 / 00:00
  • Facebook Clean
  • Twitter Clean
  • Flickr Clean
  • Instagram Clean
bottom of page