Accepting Yourself Completely
This is Valentine’s Week, and we are drawn to thinking about hearts and chocolates and romance. A good time to consider our topic for this week: LOVING YOURSELF.
It’s been said that you can’t truly love another until you love yourself. We live in a culture that constantly engages us in comparison to images of perfect people living perfect lives. In a way, self-loathing is an integral part of consumer marketing.
The message is something like: “You can only be loved / lovable if you are like these perfect people . . . and you can fix what’s wrong with you and your life by buying our products.”
Living in that environment of conditional love, we have found it tough to be tender, kind and forgiving to ourselves. We often hear people say that they are extremely hard on themselves.
Karl Jung said, “The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
This year, how about a Valentine’s Day for you, too, as well as your loved ones?
What would that day look like? How could you make a clear expression of love for yourself this February 14th? What would you do? What would you not do?
Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.