TO LOVE ONESELF

There was a quote I heard many years ago from Oscar Wilde. My mother used to say it.

It said, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” (From ‘An Ideal Husband.’)

It made an impression on me then and still does. It is a profoundly deep statement. It opens the door for us to ask, ‘Do I judge myself harshly? Do I love myself fully?’ And of course it’s easy on a certain level to regard this as an excuse for a careless kind of attitude. That’s not useful here. There is a great need for discernment, clarity, awareness and the willingness to change.

But loving oneself fully usually means embracing those qualities. For myself, I realized that to love myself fully meant I would have to stop berating myself, stop being harsh where forgiveness and grace might be kinder, stop endlessly judging myself for failing to be something my imagination said was better than I was. In fact to become unconditional with myself. Only then could I become unconditional with the world and with others.

And of course I say again, that doesn’t mean laziness. It may mean being tough, holding myself to a high standard, being disciplined and rigorous. But that is love too.

Eventually on the path you do fall in love with the whole thing, the self, other and the whole of existence. It is inevitable.

---

Whisper the secret magic of the stars
The whole universe knows your name
But you have forgotten
Yet even as we speak
Some memory is stirring within you
And within many beings
The slumber is over
And dawn is very close.

----------------------------

The Beloved is not
Somewhere up ahead
But right here
In all things.

--------------------------

Dive into the mud
And discover exquisite jewels
The light is in the dark.

-------------------------

The divine is everywhere
And heaven is here
But our eyes are averted
And we are distracted
Looking elsewhere
Imagining hell.

------------------------

When the light
Of love’s grace
Flowers in you
You will know
Your true essence
And the essence
Of all existence.

-----------------------

You may think 
It’s your mind that’s wrong
But I see your heart
Has been walled in
Your tenderness become hidden
Your vulnerability and innocence compromised
Your life force denied
And you are trying 
To think your way
Out of the problem.

-----------------------

First come home to yourself
Everything else will take care of itself.

-----------------------

I had a dream
It was beautiful
And terrible
Exquisite
And agonizing
Transcendent 
And mundane
Filled with suffering
And joy
I called it my life.

------------------------

It’s hard to see the beauty
Hidden inside the world
When you can’t see that beauty
Within your own being.

-------------------------

When I stopped taking everything so personally
As though it was all a total affront to my being
And I was the arbiter of reality
Something fell open
And, after some coming and going,
Never closed up again.

New Video: The Healing Power of Truth & Love.

Thanks!