I love...myself!

Yep. Lately, I've really been loving on myself. Might be the laboradorite bracelet I've been wearing...might be because I follow a lot of motivational/affirmation personalities on IG. In any case, this NY Times article found its way into my inbox and as I read it, I thought, "Yes, it felt great the other day when I complimented myself on a job well done."
The other day, I had a packed morning schedule. I had a lunch date with a friend who was recovering from knee surgery so had planned to make some healing soup and bring it to her. Then I also had planned to bring baked goods to the babe's classroom to celebrate her assistant teacher's bday. The back up was just to buy the goods if I ran out of time. But, I got it all done! Woke up in the morning, make brekkie and lunch for the babes and the hubs. Put a pot of beans in the slow cooker. Took the babes to school and started making the soup. While the soup was cooking I made mochi cupcakes for the class. When all was done, I felt like giving myself a high five!

The conversation with myself sounded like this:
Me 1: Dang, I rocked it!
Me 2: Yes. I certainly did. But you know what? I rock it A LOT of times.
Me 1: Yea, I do.

Why not follow up my compliment to myself with another compliment? I felt on clouds for the rest of the day. I'm still feeling the high from that day and like I said, I'm loving myself right now and things are just so aligned in the universe. I wonder if you just can't pinpoint all the benefits of recognizing in ourselves just how loving, loved and worthy we are - every day. I swear the benefits just keep growing and expanding and when you just check in once in a while, one can see that the universe totally feeds into what comes into our minds. We really do create our reality.

This loving feeling for myself sure feels a heck of a lot better than the me of yesteryear. When I spent my childhood being told I was stupid and seeing that the measure of who I was was based on a grade in school. To always have that deep seated feeling of never measuring up in the eyes of those I valued most (my family). I didn't know any better. As a child don't we all grow up believing that our family is our most valued relationship? They will never leave you. If you fail, they will always pick you up. That may be the case, but it's not necessarily true that they will be your biggest champions and will lift you up along the way. In my case, I know if I ever was in a dark place or in financial ruin, my family absolutely will be there for me. But until I get to that place, they could never be my safe place on a day-to-day basis. They see in me, my worst qualities. Unless I can rise to the highest esteem every failure is viewed as a failure and not a success.

I came across a post once where the sentiment showed how your family will have words of encouragement for complete strangers, but when it comes to your ideas they will have words of caution. Certainly, they must think they are being helpful. And I am sure I do the same thing with my own child - words of caution. If there is one thing I will work on forever, it's to always say "YES! with enthusiasm to anything my child comes up with. Because yesses always lead to success...even if you hit a couple failed attempts in the beginning."

And when you read any business books or thoughts from CEOs or entrepreneurs, the one thing that is always clear is you can't succeed if you haven't failed.

I think my job as a parent is to allow the babes to fail. Who am I to naysay any of her ideas? We are not the same person. She might have better ideas to success than me especially if it's her idea to begin with. My job is to be her champion. Assist her in her dreams and when she fails, be there to support her and lift her up. Make sure she understands that every successful entrepreneur had to fail in order to get where they are. You don't learn unless you do. This is probably what I need to meditate on every day as the babes grows older. "May I know when to keep my mouth shut and just support."

Oh, enough about what I should/could be doing. For today, I am so satisfied with myself! So, yes to me today and every day. I have finally shed myself of the insecurity that was instilled in me as a child. I know who I am and am proud of myself. I know who my tribe is and they fill me up. May we all love ourselves more so we can in turn love each other more.