In todays crazy times we have to ask ourselves what went wrong. We see so many putting hate and blame on others and on times gone by. Blaming the past to hate the future, instead of learning from it is a dangerous and never-ending vicious cycle. If we hold on and keep bringing the bad of the past, it will surely poison the future… over and over again. I don’t know about you but I’d rather repeat what worked, instead of what didn’t.
How about our own lives. Do we, ourselves take 100% responsibility for our actions, our reactions, our present, past and our future? We should! No one got us where we are right now but us. Good or bad. If you’re doing good, give yourself a pat on the back, If you’re doing bad, take a deep look at what actions you did or didn’t take that got you right here in this moment and then ask yourself what lesson needed to be learned here so that you can change the direction into a much better one. No one has done all good or all bad either, we have all done some of both, so be grateful for the good times and the bad, because those lessons give us great futures. Love them all.
But as for Hate, it’s never ok, ever. You can hate an action but you should never hate a person, or an entire nationality because of one or a few bad people in it. Hate is generally created from lack of knowledge. You don’t know what that persons circumstances, situation or what they were told was right. You don’t know what made them act the way they did in that moment. You have not walked a mile in their shoes! But one thing is for sure….
Hate starts from within. It starts in the mirror,
but don’t fret, so does love.
Imagine a world where people loved themselves and others completely. No that doesn’t mean selfishly, pridefully and vengefully…That is not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the love you give your family, friends and pets. A gracious love, full of grace, forgiveness, compassion & laughter and tears.
If people truly loved themselves they would have
no room left for hate… for themselves or others.
What does it mean to truly love ourself? Hrmmmm… Could mean some things different to each of us but I believe the basis is the same. Here are some ideas, feel free to add more in the comments below.
- Take care of oneself
- Sleeping 8 hours a day
- Fueling the body with good sources of Protein and energy sources with good nutrition
- Exercising– Exercise is a gift. Don’t miss out on what this does for you.
- Finding and following Passions
- Beneficial Relationships: Friends that help your life, not hurt it
- Removing Toxins from your life… including drugs, people and places
- Finding things that make you happy, and staying away from those that don’t
- Making sure you are plugging into a higher source of power than you.
- Being true to yourself and loving every ounce.
- Giving yourself grace, forgiveness, love, compassion, patience.
- Accepting your flaws as beauty, and your faults as character.
- Building your strengths and working on your weaknesses.
- Always trying something new and never stop pushing your limits.
- Never Stop learning, reading and growing.
- Always find ways to laugh. Don’t stress, find the humor and do better next time
- Forgive, Forgive, Forgive… Forgive yourself, and others. because holding a grudge is poison to you not them.
I’ll bet the world around you would start changing immediately if you were to start to love yourself. You would see things differently, treat things and people differently all around.
Your smile, laugh and heart are so contagious…
SHARE THEM!
But to Love ourselves completely there are two major lessons here that we need to learn.
- We can love no one or allow them to love us more than we love ourself… WOW- Ouch…. That one stings a little doesn’t it. I know it did for me when I realized that. I looked around at my relationships and they were all so limited, I was the common denominator.. So I decided to look within, that’s when I discovered… no one can give us more than we give ourself. If we only love ourself 10% of the time we are only allowing others to love us 10% of the time! And in exchange I only have 10% to exchange with anyone else! That was definitely my problem, I was guarding my heart so tight that I was smothering it to death! How could anyone love me with my heart hid so deep! I had hidden it… even from myself.
To me (and Disney) Love is the one thing that can erase all bad things! It’s magic, it rights all wrongs, can break any curse, end any war, wake up a sleeping beauty and even turn a bad queen or witch good! Love is quite the miracle maker! I know this for sure from my own life with forgiveness, that is the biggest miracle of all.
Our hearts can only grow when we fill them up, to the point of overflowing. The more we fill them, the bigger they get! The bigger they are the more room we have to love others. I believe that filling it up comes from many things, like the list above. But mostly, I believe, our hearts are filled from God Himself and that depends on how much of it and ourselves we give to Him. God is Love. And we can not truly understand love until we allow ourselves to be filled from the one who created it and us. He fills us and we fill others. Its like the care bears the light shoots down on us and we shoot it onto others! 😉
- When WE stand up and when WE RISE ABOVE any hateful thing, situation or crisis, it GIVES others courage and permission to do the same. Someone has to start it, let it be you. Stand up for whats right. Stand up for love. Love everyone whether they deserve it or not. Circumstances, race, beliefs, heritage, culture, or any differences at all, are irrelevant, we are called to love. That is all. Not to hurt, judge, hate, nor spread those things to others. God made each of us, and we are all beautiful works in progress, but to Him we are a Masterpiece. Lets start showing that to others. When we encourage, compliment & do good things, we are much more apt to do them for others. If we only do it for others and never for ourselves, we end up being resentful and our hearts are not in it and we miss out on all the blessings. Fill your cup beyond overflowing. And watch those around you be filled and do the same. One smile, compliment or good deed goes for miles beyond what you will ever see. Start spreading Love… ALL OVER THE PLACE! WIN THIS AND ALL WARS!!! Starting with that war in the mirror!
Stand up, Rise Above, Spread Love & Change the world.
Cyrus