I LOVE MYSELF

I ACCEPT MYSELF

I NURTURE MYSELF

Do you find the words above to be challenging to say?

New Year’s resolutions are often based a critical model. Why not look at yourself from a different perspective? Looking at yourself as you would look at a dear friend, with compassion and understanding. What are the positive attributes that make you uniquely You? Look within at your struggles, at the ways you work at being the best you can be. With kindness, notice those parts of yourself that are vulnerable, imperfect, incomplete, dark. What might you say to your friend if he or she was feeling bad about something similar? Are there are ways that you undermine yourself, as though you are your own enemy? Look carefully at the ways you may be creating an artificial sense of separation within yourself, as though you were not one, but many conflicting entities inside.

Send Love to all of those parts, including, and especially to the parts holding pain, disappointment, and anger. Hold that disenfranchised part of You. Bring it home. Embrace with compassion the part of you that can be mean, competitive, driven. Send forgiveness to those dark and lonely aspects of your spirit.

Look for the child deep within and honor her/his feelings. That child never needs to be alone again in a world that cannot be trusted. Now that child can trust you. By acknowledging, loving, and taking care of that inner child, you will find that you can intuitively shower yourself with love in the way that is most needed.

Self-hate is at the root of many of the self-destructive behaviors that New Year resolutions are intended to correct. By deeply seeing the beautiful, innocent, and pure parts of yourself, and having compassion for your “faults”—which result from misguided ways of trying to protect yourself from pain—you can move to forgiveness. Following is a Hawaiian prayer that may help you to love and care for yourself and others. Send the words out, especially to your Self.

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Ho’oponopono Mantra

Divine creator, father, mother, son as one…If I, my family, relatives, or ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives, or ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds, or actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, we ask your forgiveness…Let this cleanse, purify, release, and cut all the negative memories, blocks, energies, and vibrations, and transmute these unwanted energies into pure light…And it is done.

I LOVE YOU

I AM SORRY

PLEASE FORGIVE ME

THANK YOU

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Over time, this prayer can have a profound impact. Meditate on it and take in the light of in-sight: Express your love; acknowledge that you are sorry; ask for forgiveness; and finally, thank yourself. In time, the transformation will crystallize…all else will flow from this.

Blessings,

Cynthia