Love Myself So Much!
by Yvette Trujillo, RScP
Sometimes I look around the world and I am wounded by how horrible we can be to one another. The unbearable thing for me is when I see or hear about animals, children or the elderly being harmed at the hands of another person. Just thinking of this creates a knot in my stomach and my throat tightens. In recent years, I have had an experience of disbelief and deep sorrow as I have watched the mistreatment of people in service jobs like cashiers, waitstaff, and front desk administrators. Where has our humanity gone? I ask myself this quite frequently these days as the examples of this behavior pile up.
Actually, that’s a great question. Where has our humanity gone? I believe the problem exists because we have forgotten how to love ourselves. The Golden Rule doesn’t work very well when, at our core, we are not treating ourselves very kindly.
How do we begin to bring healing to this world that feels all out of whack? I believe we begin by loving ourselves. I know that can sound selfish… but who do you put the oxygen mask on first in an airplane emergency? You take care of yourself first, not to the exclusion of everyone else, but so that you can serve others. When we do the work (and it is work) of learning how to love all of ourselves, we are better able to love others and it starts a chain reaction! When we show up in the world loving ourselves and openly loving others, others get the hint that they are deserving of self-love and from there they are more able to send love back out.
There is a precious little song written by Rickie Byers that says it a little better:
I love myself so much.
that I can love you so much
that you can love you so much
that you can start loving me!
How can you begin to bring healing to the world? Start by loving yourself – SO MUCH!
And so it is