Love. Something we cannot live without. We desire to give and receive love- on many levels, not just romantic. It’s basic human instinct and is vital for our soul and emotional health to thrive just as oxygen and food and water are necessary for our physical body.
Why, then, is love so hard? Why can’t we put our hand out and ask for it and receive it, just like we can go to a fridge and get a snack? Why do we deny ourselves and others this life sustaining nourishment?
This past year I have done a lot of thinking about love on my ethereal quest. Part of my self-healing journey is to get unstuck from the feeling of being unloved by my family. The truth is that I haven’t been loving myself. And, I think that is true for a lot of people – we just don’t love ourselves and we futilely search outside ourselves for something that will never fill the hole we created in our own souls.
What happens when we don’t love ourselves? We reject love from others. We sabotage relationships. We are not able to be happy for others who do find love. We are incapable of giving or receiving love. Love is painful when we don’t love ourselves.
Love has got to start within ourselves. Once you love yourself, there is no desperation energy in seeking to give love to others and no unworthy energy in receiving it. Your cup is filled and love is beautiful, not painful.
Imagine if we could all love ourselves first. We might see a world without addiction. We might find that people choose peace over war. We might act to end inequality and poverty and destruction. We might see less hatred for those not like us. We might be happy for others in love – even if that love is between Black & White, Arab & Jew, Man & Man, or Woman & Woman. We might see that love is love is love – whatever it looks like.
Genie Mathews 