Why it’s more important than ever to practice self-love

Are we a whole generation of people caught between two ages, two modes of life?

Do we live in a time where normality has become a sickness? Where one could argue that those of us that buy into the social norms in an oh so obviously corrupt, vacuous and unfulfilling society are the ones that should be frowned upon by the outliers, the previous institutionalised? Where is the utopia our ancestors fought for and believed in so fiercely?

I’ll let you answer those questions.

Let me take the above and say that it is true. Let’s layer that on top of a global pandemic, potential climate catastrophe, economic depression and a social uprising against inequalities. You could forgive a person for feeling a little uneasy right?

Now, I believe we are going through a type of collective spiritual awakening. I am not sure I believe in the 2012 ascension into the next density (high consciousness if you will), yet I am willing to believe it is possible. I believe we are “waking up” for a lack of a better term and I am of the belief that history will look back at this time we are living through with very intrigued eyes.

So then, what can we do to help this collective consciousness along on its path toward us being an enlightened species? Well, I guess we can start with love. The ultimate antidote for fear. In my opinion, almost all of the above issues stem from fear, fear of change, fear of other peoples beliefs and cultures, fear of a virus (probably the most warranted) etc and yet all that fear does is make us worse as a people. Sure, a certain amount of fear is a useful survival tool (don’t go jumping off a building), but I am talking about the fear that manifests into anxiety, makes us judgemental, hateful and irrational.

There is a practical way we can make individual change, which in turn creates collective change and that is a practice called love and kindness meditation. It is a practice that I like to do regularly to put myself back into place when I can feel the claws of judgement creeping around my mind. It is a practice that I enjoy and know that you would come to enjoy with time. Let me run you through briefly how I do it.

I sit with my eyes closed, this is actually optional, you could do this with eyes open if you choose. I then take 3 long deep breathes in through my nose and out of my mouth, whilst I am doing this I welcome myself into the practice mentally. I literally say hello to myself and smile and let my shoulders relax into the practice. After my three deep breaths, I let my breathing return to its normal flow. Then my practice becomes about becoming aware of my thoughts and greeting them with love and kindness. I sit back and just watch the flow of consciousness and thought ebb in and out. When I notice I am letting my thoughts run away I come back to the breath with love and kindness, opposed to an abrupt (oh shit I am thinking too much). I sit like this for a while. Then I like to move into some mental priming. I literally say to myself that I love myself how I am, right here and now in this moment. I tell myself that I am exactly where I am meant to be and exactly how I am meant to be, perfect in this very moment. I repeat this pattern until the “Ding” goes off to alert me that my practice has finished. I’ve been doing 10 minutes like this.

Now, you can work out your own variation of a love and kindness meditation, you can copy mine if you like. I highly recommend you give it a go. I know you will enjoy it and come out the other side feeling if nothing else a little better about oneself.

The world needs more love and we need to learn to love ourselves fully before we can love everyone around us. If we can find a way to learn to love more than we fear and hate, the world will ultimately be a better place and our children and their children will inherit a better world.

So, why is it more important than ever to show self-love? Well, because we have no other choice.

As always feel free to let me know how you go and or if you have any questions.

Please share this post if you think it could help anyone you know, subscribe, like all of that stuff.

Until next time.

Mitch ❤

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