What did I learn today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

  When you trust yourself, you can surrender more . You can relax and feel the ease you've been craving. Kate Courageous Hello Hello Hello November is upon us, we Journey together to Surrender. To some Surrender may conjure up an image of giving up, trust me lovelies we define surrender is a whole other way. Surrender in this case is the ability to let go of a situation knowing that you can and will handle it. After you have done the "work", after you have prayed, meditated, journaled, had counselling, therapy and pull out of the tools from the tool box, what do you do? You let it go. Yes, that is exactly what I said, you let it go, you give it to the Higher Power in faith, trust, courage, patience and love. Now, this may sound simple, but simple is sometimes not easy. Humans love to be in control, they love to know what is happening now and next and more than that, we want to look like we have our lives together so what do we do? take actions to control the situation and...

  Growth is not always about getting what we think we want. Always its about becoming the men and women we have the potential to be. Loving, pure, honest and clear- Marianne Williamson Growth is an inside job. What happens inside, reflects on the outside. If you feel a level of turmoil inside, at some point this will be reflected in your life - the outside. If you feel a level of peace on the inside - at some point it will be reflected in your life - the outside. There is no amount of external trappings, gadgets and distractions that can stop what is happening on the inside to be reflected on the outside. This is not to say that everything that is being felt inside must be suppressed and turned into some magical positive feeling all at once. Determining what is happening inside is an opportunity for self awareness, an opportunity for feeling all your feelings remembering that  they are guides rather than anchors and to learn about how your discerning skills are working -...

  What could possibly be more important than your health and your sanity, from which all else springs? Maria Popova How many of us trade in our time, health, sanity, joy and peace consistently for making a deal, meeting a deadline, "because it has to be done", in the name of sacrifice? How many of us justify that choice? Somehow, we live in a society where success means that we boast about how little sleep we can go on, how busy we are and how much we can get done without stopping to eat or rest. I can tell you, its unsustainable! You will feel the effects of self neglect And that is exactly what it is! Self neglect It also sends a signal to the Universe that you put yourself las, what I have learnt is, the Universe takes you at face value. So it will wait patiently for you to come around while sending you sign upon sign Consider this, success can be defined by you, success does not have to be a all or nothing situation, success can also incorporate peace, joy, rest, fun and...

  The root of self-help is self, but if your help only helps you, then is it helpful? Stacey Herera Confessions on the Journey, I think about how many self help books, courses, podcasts and seminars I have been on and sometimes wonder in some moments of challenge whether  I am living my life to reflect what I have learnt! Seriously though, who is with me? How many times have I thought - and this is the thing right here- my thinking. I had thoughts that were less than, far far less than wholesome. The judgements, the cynicism, the snarkiness, the anger  that rises in me, I sometimes think OMG this is not progressive or spiritual AT ALL.  What I can say is this, the lessons have been important, I feel so grateful for them all 1. Practice, practice, practice - every opportunity I get, I practice being kind, having hard conversations, staying grounded - practice makes masters 2. Release the self judgement - another practice! when we judge ourselves, it becomes easy and ...

  Are you angry because someone crossed a boundary or angry because you didn’t set one? Maryam Hasnaa Confessions on the Journey - Maintaining boundaries are tough for me. As a recovering people pleaser, speaking up when the boundaries that I have set are crossed have been a challenge. I say to myself - who wants to annoy other people? who wants to feel uncomfortable? What I have started to ask myself is - what if there is healing on the other side of this? Your healing has to be a priority in your life, it has to be more important than pleasing others because you want them to like you, be happy with you.  Boundaries say I respect myself enough to hold true to my values and beliefs about myself. Setting boundaries is a gesture of self-love, worthiness and respect. When you have clear boundaries you cannot be taken advantage of. Melodie Beattie says "boundaries emerge from deep within, they are connected to letting go of guilt and shame. Things change because we have changed"...

  It’s natural that we do what we can to ward off danger and further ourselves. While our control strategies—such as aggression, judging, planning, seeking approval, pretending—have a developmental role, they are not a recipe for happiness, intimacy and freedom. Tara Brach  What does freedom look like to you? What does freedom feel like to you? We say we want to be free yet we engage in activities that bind us, that does not promote freedom. I am talking here about the activities which we do from a place of fear. Withholding or running from intimacy and vulnerability keeps us bound to inauthentic relationships.  Inauthentic relationships are those where we live in fear, striving to prove that we are worthy, those that we feel we are not living our truths, where we are not at peace, where we have to lie to ourselves and others. There is very little freedom in living like that. When we feel the need to be in control all the time, there is very little room for fait...

  Love does indeed have healing qualities, but love is also a verb. It demands action. It demands attention. It demands participation.  But action, attention, and participation does not defeat impermanence . Stacey Hererra  One of the most important lessons I have learnt on the journey is "everything in life is impermanent"  The awareness and acceptance of life's impermanence will bring you a level of peace. We will all not be here at some point in time, we are here for a time and purpose. This is sobering for many and for many reasons.  We hold on to things whether they are for our highest good or not, it is comforting to know! We measure our lives, relationships by years, by time. There is merit in that, however when we forget that everything is life is fleeting we tend to get caught up in holding on for dear life. This lesson taught me to remain in the moment, to do my best in the moment because that moment will never happen again. How do we show up in that m...

Life humbles you. As you grow old, you stop chasing the big things and start valuing the little things. Alone time, enough sleep, a good diet, long walks, and quality time with loved ones. Simplicity becomes the ultimate goal. I found self love in Uganda Because of group of ladies led by a warrior called Josephine. Because of walking in nature. Because of the universe. Because I worked on it. Because I went within for it. Because I was willing to look at my fear and shit and heartbreak and failure directly in the eyes, ugly and all, and choose love anyway. Because of solitude, I finally had time to know what self love meant. And everything changed, in the way life felt. Yet nothing changed, because all its hardships were still there. I just changed the way I told my life's story Instead of getting rejected and deciding “I am not good at that...” self love allowed me to get rejected and instead decide or think “that was not good for me.” Setback was no longer about me or my worth an...

  Today we pass illusions by . ACIM Dear October Welcome, you have ushered in the last quarter of 2022 May we partner for: 1.       Discipline 2.       Consistency 3.       Fun 4.       Self-Belief 5.       Rest 6.       Authenticity 7.       Abundance 8.       Boundaries 9.       Unconditional Self-Love May I also remember that life never asked me for my schedule or guaranteed that my schedule will be followed, but only to live fully, purposefully, lovingly and intentionally. Peace Akosua's Books Nyabo (Madam) Why Are You Here? Now What? The Flipside What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love