I dare say we all have plenty of dysfunctional thoughts and perceptions that we would do well to address.
No matter what my issue is, no matter how I'm feeling, no matter how deeply seated the dysfunction is, and no matter how many times I meditate to find clarity...the answer always comes down to the same two things:
Be Here Now
and
Love Thyself
It's pretty incredible to me that those two solutions actually fix nearly everything!!
Now I say nearly everything, because I haven't experienced the worst of the worst (like rape, torture, losing a child, etc.) in this lifetime--and I'm profusely thankful for that. But all the issues I have encountered, can be brought back to light with these two solutions. We can also take these opportunities to build inner strength and awareness, upgrading our entire existence.
BE HERE NOW
Many of our dysfunctions are based on fear. Fear comes into play when we are out of the present moment, projecting ideas, thoughts and pictures into the future, and conjuring up possible undesirable outcomes. In other words: Making shit up and obsessing over something that hasn't even happened! Most fear can be eased by recognizing well-being in the moment of right now. Of course it also helps if you believe you are an eternal being -- as your core essence is never in jeopardy.
I'm grateful the following fear based realities aren't part of my life, but if they were, I could find my way through them by being present right now.
Worries about finances - Remembering that right now, regardless of how much money I have in the bank or of my ability or inability to pay the bills, I am breathing and sitting here present right now. I have awakened to another day, and I remember that my well-being does not depend on money.
Oh NO!! I've lost my iphone - Many moments I have experienced without my iphone. This is the perfect time to enjoy the freedom. Maybe there is a reason I no longer have my phone--it's an opportunity to let go of attachment.
I'm late for work and scared I'll get fired - I realize that right now I still have my job, and even if I didn't, I love myself and know I am capable of taking care of myself. Maybe losing my job would be the best thing that ever happened to me. A great opportunity to re-evaluate priorities.
My teenage child is out, I haven't heard from him and I'm worried about his well-being - Worrying about what isn't doesn't solve anything, so staying present with what I do know is of great value.
LOVE THYSELF
Almost all the ills we face are based on not loving the self. Loving ourselves provides the foundation for us to love others, and will change our lives in profound ways. One who loves the self takes responsibility for their entire existence, and retains their own power to enact beneficial change.
Here are a couple of examples of how loving the self will diffuse these and other disempowered realities:
Jealousy - More self love will dissolve the requirement for anyone else to fulfill those needs.
Illness - Health will improve when we love ourselves more.
Judgment - When we are judging others, we are actually judging ourselves. Accepting and loving ourselves will free us from judgment.
Blaming - Being responsible for the self and everything we are a part of takes us out of the victim role and gives us back our power. If we love ourselves, we will be true to our values, see our part in the situation, and stop blaming others for things that go "wrong" in our lives. When we take responsibility for our own existence, we are in the driver's set to make change.
Of course these are only example of the infinite number of issues that might arise. With all of the opportunities we have to address our dysfunction and better ourselves, we could focus on these two upgrades and see our lives change rapidly in miraculous ways. I'd love to hear how you find these suggestions to be of value to you.
Being thoightful of the future but living in the present. That seems to be what has worked the best.
It's tricky, it's a hard balance to strike. But doing so will not only help bring yourself to a calmer space, it will help you realize whats important and worth worrying about at all.
Nice, uplifting post. Thank you :)
I resonate with your words. Looking forward to following you! I too am a creator, though mostly in the garden. Cheers.
The garden is a place of great power. Nature has a way of keeping it real. Thanks for the follow!
Keep creating and do what you love man! I like what your about, I'll hit ya with a follow!
Awesome. Great to connect! Make it an awesome day.
And a great comment this is @iamjustinscott. Thanks for sharing. I couldn't agree more.
Thank you so much! Looking forward to more of your work!
Looking forward to many exchanges with you @iamjustinscott.
Ooooo LOVE THAT!
Ohhhhh....what a great surprise was that! Beautiful expression. Thanks for the gift @aung.
wow, stunningly beautiful
This is so beautiful @aung <3
yay! sis
So good to see you here @marionjoe!
This is incredible. I needed to hear it, thank you! I am better than I used to be, but still sometimes become overwhelmed with fear, and I find that fear leads to a lack of self-love. When I am fearful, I become angry with myself for not being better capable of allaying the fears. For example, I am fearful that the repairs my home needs won't get done, so I hate myself for taking on a house that needs so much work, and hate myself even more for not being good enough to do the repairs.
Those moments are few and far between these days but I had one last week. Your post reminds me of the work I need to put in to help those times become even fewer and farther in between. Thank you again for such an important and hopeful post!
Not only are we not living up to our values and the person we want to be, but then we judge ourselves for it. It's incredible how much more tangled things become when we add huge dollops of judgment on top. If we remember to embrace everything, even those parts of us we don't really want to experience, we can come back to recognizing what is, accept it, and make new choices to be who we want to be.
I'm grateful to have a made a difference in your day. I appreciate your presence here and the opportunity to share.
It's amazing what enters our minds. We always think of the worse and never give much credit to ourselves. Always thinking we fall short of a standard and not "good enough." It's amazing what self love can do. It makes us treat ourselves better. To not beat up on ourselves. Understanding that "now" is all we've got and that where we stand is good and that if we lose something or something is taken away, it's ok, we're still here. It's taking a step back and understanding our priorities. As the singer , "PIT BULL" says, "Every day above ground is a good day." How true that is. Attitude of gratitude . So love thyself and be here now in the present. It's all we have ; it's where we start.
AWESOME reply @steppingout23. We can easily agree that that is the case. Gratefully, we are opening to new possibilities and remembering our divinity. Living in gratitude will change our perspective....oh there is so much to be grateful for. Blessed by your comment. I appreciate this opportunity to share with you.
Great post! Love it. I'm gonna keep it easily accessible for reminders when I need it.
Yea!
Glad you're loving the love @loveon. We all can use a dose of it sometime. <3
@everlove Loved reading this post. My dad @louiscpt said that I would love your blog and we would relate, and he was right. I started my awakening about three years ago. I still have a lot to learn but my journey instantly changed when I realized that we are the universe experiencing itself.
I'm sending you some love and positive vibes, keep on creating your PERFECT reality.
@itsgalactic!!!! Thank you for coming my way. Welcome to Steemit. I'm grateful @louiscpt brought us together. It's great to combine our energies and help each other find our way. It's amazing how one shift in perspective can change our entire realities! Once you know, you cannot un-know. Then it's only a matter of what you do with it!!
Thank you for the positive vibes and for tuning in with me. I'm grateful to have you here.
Thank you so much for this pics. The truth is that most of us treat ourselves so badly, by being so much worried about so many things, we condemn so much and never see any good thing in us. the content is always thought provoking and inspiring . continue the good work, I enjoy this work.
So true
Yes
Yes!
That is the truth @hynet. We have been conditioned away from self love--and love in general. We have lost connection with the divinity within us. It's time to remember and share the possibilities. Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you appreciate what I have to share. Blessings on the way.
Okay
I needed to see this, thank you.
I excel at "Making shit up and obsessing over something that hasn't even happened"
It's why I have anxiety. Living in fear or always focusing on the future instead of living in the present moment being grateful that I'm alive and enjoying it.
Bingo!!!
They're all just ideas and thoughts, generally not based on anything but imagination and fear. A complete waste of time and lots of stress on the nervous system! There is so much to be grateful for. So glad you're feeling it! <3
Absolutely. I just need to keep reminding myself of this on a daily basis!
What a great thing to remind ourselves of everyday! Been blessed already today!
i am here and now and i love myself - there it is not so hard to articulate but yes - the benefits are beyond what can be expected. Projecting into the future causes anxiety and that produces disease, so the way to be is here and now.
Exactly!
;D
<3
AWESOME @daydreams4rock. It's a rarity to find people who actually love themselves. It's actually something most people have no idea how to do. Glad to hear of the clarity you have. I appreciate greatly your comment and presence here. Following you!
good to connect with likeminded and generous spirits
It is a blessing indeed. Grateful to have you here @daydreams4rock.
i just posted a song i wrote and played on and it uses one of my paintings as album art too - i hope you drop in
Ok, I'm intrigued!!! I'll be right over!
Excellent reflection
Agreed!
Thanks @kayrex. It's so great that we can all do that for each other. I appreciate your comment.
Positivity makes the world go round, imagine the kind of world we would have if we ALL thought like this, at the EXACT same time !!!..
and also, if everyone looked out for one another
it starts at home
:)
Amen~*~
Oh yes---just imagine!!! I do imagine and I feel how incredible that would be. Beginning with the self is a great beginning. I appreciate your comment @aineyann.
It's true, but you are so right, we cant just be expecting others to change either, we can change ourselves. & good energy attracts good energy!... We were all meant for such better things in this world, and we are not here for a long time, but we are here for a good time ! & on that note, I hope that you have a good day!!
It definitely does no good to try to get others to change, to expect them to or to wait for them to. Like attracts like---here we are @aineyann. Grateful to be in this short but grand experience with you.
Love the message. Simple yet powerful! I might also add that we're all in this together! Here's to an abundant future!
Love is definitely the message---really what else is there to do? Thank goodness we're all in it together, it would be a very lonely ride alone! Cheers to abundance.
I love your screen name @foodisfree. I'm now intrigued to go see what you have to offer. Food is free!!!
Life is free. Love is free. Food is Free. In nature, abundance is normal. Time for us to plant the seeds for a new normal where all are free and fed!
If we take our cues from nature, we will see how abundant, sustainable and beneficial life can be. Let's plant the seeds indeed and share the possibilities!
Nature is the greatest teacher I know. :) Here's to seeds of possibility!
I'll toast to that! <3
We are the power~*~
Yes!...and we are the ones we've been waiting for!
Exactly!
Though I get what you mean, it still sounds kinda weird to me whenever I hear the injunction "love yourself", when in my opinion one of the greatest problems of our era is narcissism! I'm far more likely to 'instruct' others to get off their high horse! :P
I find there is a big difference between loving the self, and being self-absorbed or selfish (google describes selfish as:
Loving the self is about being honorable to your own values, taking care of yourself, appreciating yourself, giving yourself the best life and opportunities, looking out for your own best interests...etc.
Being selfish is disregard for the well-being of others, taking advantage of others for your own gain...etc.
The society we grew up in has judgment on self-love, and anyone who loves themselves "too much" (whatever that means!) is labeled a narcissist. Often people with little self love have a hard time with people who love themselves. I believe if they had a healthy and well-balanced relationships with themselves, they would find appreciation in others who also share that same trait.
I wrote an article recently about just that:
https://steemit.com/psychology/@everlove/give-the-world-the-grandest-version-of-you-that-you-can-possibly-give
Thanks for your comment @alexander.alexis. I'm grateful for the opportunity to exchange with you.
It's just there's so much talk about self-love these days, and to me it sounds like trying to teach people how to breathe. I mean, we are born with self-love. Our default state is to look out for our best interest. What we really need to learn is other-love. That's the kind of thing that actually needs to be taught.
What I think 'self-love' is (I mean the way it's portrayed in the media - what you're talking about might be different), is an internalization of the messages found in popular media, that teach you you're nothing unless you're rich and famous and good-looking etc. E.g. music videos, models, superstars, 'the beautiful people'. We grow up wanting to be like them. At some point reality hits us, and we realize it won't happen. Now, we either grow up, realize it was all a sham. Or, we 'self-love', meaning: we adopt for ourselves the same kind of narcissistic values that you find, say, in rap videos, but without the external validation that comes with it. We become Kanye, but without the actual fame, therefore all the more ridiculous: at least his fame justifies his being a little bit crazy, locked in his bubble, like Nero. We don't have that excuse.
Just to give a more concrete example of popular self-love teachings: Youtube star Superwoman. Here's two self-love teachings she tries to get across to young teen girls, taken from her trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5333882/
"You do not need anyone to be happy, besides yourself."
"Happiness is the only thing worth fighting for in your life."
Whether you meet these statements with glee or with scorn, depends I guess on how you perceive the message behind the words. My intuition tells me it's all a product of narcissistic culture (especially looking at the values promoted in the rest of the trailer). The first enjoinment locks you in a bubble: you're the great big blue planet and everyone else is a satellite and they can f off into the deep dark space for all you care. The second makes you a hedonist, strictly speaking (I assume she means 'happiness of the self', not 'of others'). And it's not just the highest thing. It's the only thing. Literally nothing else is worth fighting for!
The difficulty with these issues is that no one gives us a concrete definition of what they mean by self-love. It's all very ethereal and abstract and positive-sounding, but hard to specify, and therefore hard to get a grip on. One feels the message behind it all isn't quite as innocuous as portrayed, but without the specificity found, for instance, in feminist beliefs, you're left guessing. I can understand Superwoman's first statement as it's found in Buddhist writings, and I can attack it for that reason. I can understand the second statement as it's found in hedonistic writings, and attack it for that reason. But in the loose language and setting of popular culture, I may have the intense suspicion that something is very awry, but I don't quite know what it is. There's just that one word that keeps coming up: narcissism. I think disadvantaged children in third-world countries do need us to be happy (contra 1), and I think their happiness is also worth fighting for (contra 2).
I should note I'm a feminist atheist liberal, in case any of the above sounds 'conservative'.
Wow! What a great reply @alexander.alexis. And thanks for the clarity on closing, words sometimes don't depict where we really are.
I think your first paragraph sums it up:
I would agree with that wholeheartedly, and I also believe that the self-love is squashed out of us almost since the moment we are born.
Many people don't realize its a sham and continue on the path of looking for the validation on the outside of themselves, or never really come back to true self-love, but only the example that has been set for us.
I believe most people don't even know what self-love is, as it is so far from anything we are exposed to in the media, society, or even some of the religious and spiritual teachings. Self-love is intangible to most. Where are the true examples? How do we know it when we see it since it's something we have never really seen before? Most everyone I know who is on a path to conscious awakening, finds themselves recognizing how they don't love themselves like they thought they did. It is hidden from view until we delve in deep to see it. And when we do see it (which I image is incredibly rare) we may not relate, but have judgment on it.
I would wager that narcissism is more popular than self-love, as until we really do the internal work, we are trapped in someone else's interpretation of it.
I truly appreciate your comment. Thanks for engaging the conversation.
Very enlightening... I do have to say that often times as we live our lives as humans, we progress through a state of which one is too concerned about the past or future that we eventually forget about the present. It reminds me of the turtle named Oogway from Kung Fu Panda, who stated "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."
That is indeed one of my favorite quotes and I really appreciate your comment. I believe we are awakening to the realization that change is upon us and it's time to pay attention. Deliberate focus on the present...ahhhh...takes a lot of the pressure off! It's great to connect with you @sdtraan.
Likewise.
You are right.
We live here and now in present time.
Take from it as much as you can !
You do not even know if it is going to be tomorrow or it will never come !!!
Bless you !
=]
This really resonates! Thanks! I've resteemed this just so I can quickly find it when I need another reminder.
thank you
Indeed...And you!
And....do what it takes to "shut off the world" -- phones , tv and more
Rid ourselves of distractions!! Just imagine how powerful we would be!
I wonder sometimes if the data is so overwhelming it is effecting us as humans.
Affecting or infecting!!! It is highly likely that we are altered. How we engage it and what we do with it is the question. Great thoughts to ponder.
Very inspirational post :) The one thing that is all too common in todays society is fear of fear itself. Dunno if ur into poetry but I made a poem that totally fits with the Love Thyself, it's actually called Love Thyself :p
https://steemit.com/bounty4love/@droucil/bounty4love-love-thyself
Fear is debilitating and it's amazing how much we wrap our lives around it.
I do love poetry and I'll head your way to check out that post. Thanks for your comment @droucil. I'm grateful to be exchanging with you.
Worrying is such a waste of imagination.
Thank you for this beautiful post to remind us all what really matters "BE HERE NOW"
Worrying is such a waste of imagination. That sounds like poetry to me <3 Great start to my day.
Agreed @markwhittam!!! You're welcome. These are matters of great importance. I'm grateful to be a reminder and be reminded!
Great article. Looking forward for more. Followed:)
Thanks @shimelin. I appreciate the comment and the follow.
"Fear comes into play when we are out of the present moment, projecting ideas, thoughts and pictures into the future, and conjuring up possible undesirable outcomes. In other words: Making shit up and obsessing over something that hasn't even happened!"
This is so true. I've been inside of that so many times, and you're right. These are amazing mantras to speak to yourself when things start to get foggy and difficult. Great post. <3333
If we can catch ourselves becoming muddled or frustrated and realize we are not present, then changing the way we deal with things will be much more tangible and rapid. I'm grateful to share what works for me and that you're here with me. Thanks for the great comment @jessandthesea.
Yes!
Yes......agreed indeed! ;D
very great share :)
Thank you @comealong. I appreciate your presence here and your comment. <3
;)
Powerful words. It is always a great reminded to love yourself with all the flaws, fears and stupid thoughts that might pop into your head each day.
I'm grateful to have shared something of value today. Reminders to live fully are always welcome in my book. It's great to be able toss around perspectives. Thanks for your comment @captain-nemo.
Wow!
What a powerful post and such beautiful photos!
I couldn't agree more, what an enlightened and holistic approach. I sure do hope this reaches many!
Bless it be~*~
Your presence here @quinneaker is truly welcomed, as your perspective is revered by many. I appreciate the blessing of awakening. Thanks for your contribution to humanity, to my life, and to this post. Bless it be!!
Wow that was beautiful Quinn!
What a great read! Loving yourself, and being present in the moment make such a difference in the quality of your life!
Thanks @artedellavita. I agree! Thank goodness for solutions.
Have an awesome weekend!
Thanks! I am already!
Nice pictures, I'm following you now :)
Thanks @mkdmrs. Thanks for the follow as well.
I often find the same solutions fix almost any "problem", and I'm grateful for your frequent reminders. Running away from the present moment is pretty common when the present moment gets intense...but there's nowhere else to go!
Agreed @saramiller. No matter where you go--there you are! Just can't get away from the self! <3
Being present is THE PRESENT.
Il n'y a rien a dire de plus! Tous est là et c'est si vrai!!!!! Je m'applique chaque jour à m'aimer un peu plus et à être présente ici et maintenant autant que possible! Merci pour ce partage qui fait tant de bien au coeur et à l'âme!
There is nothing more to say! All is there and it is so true !!!!! I apply myself every day to love myself a little more and to be present here and now as much as possible! Thank you for this sharing that does so much good to my heart and soul!
@nature.sauvage---how beautiful it is that you are here with me on my posts. I'm so glad we have so much in common and have this opportunity to share profound truths with each other. Ahhhh..divine alignment!
Indeed! I feel great gratitude!
Lose your mind and come to your senses in nature.
True that!!!! Thanks for that @infinity-owl!
Anytime
Those are two of the most profound and important things anyone can learn. You must also love yourself before you can truly love anyone else, and if you are present in the moment, it gives the impression of time slowing down, and this life seems to last longer, allowing us to savor it more, as we did when we were children. If you ever want to see someone who has perfected being present in the moment, look at a young child (probably younger than twelve). They inherently know how to do it.
Oh I so agree @stephmckenzie. Children have the answers, if we are just open to listen!! Thanks for your input. I appreciate your perspective.