Today’s post is aimed at a very specific group of people. This won’t apply to everyone, but for the people it is relevant for, today could be a powerful moment in your life.

Today, I’m speaking to those of you who are victims of abuse…from yourself.

Those of you who daily speak damaging words to yourself, tell yourself you’re a failure, you’re not good enough, you’re too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too light-skinned, dark-skinned, etc. Do these statements sound familiar?…

• I hate my body, why can’t I be thin like the other girls?

• I hate my job, I feel like my life is such a failure.

• I will never been good enough to get a job/salary/house/spouse…like them.

• My body doesn’t work right, its broken, I will always feel sick.

• I can’t believe I messed that up! I’m so stupid!!

• Nobody loves me, everyone hates me, I should just go away.

• Ugh…I am so fat! No one will ever love me, and why should they, I am gross!

• I am so ugly, I hate the way I look.

• I’m going to fail this test.

• I’m not good at anything! Why am I even here?

These statements are pretty intense, but there’s a good chance that you have said something similar to yourself, and possibly on a daily basis. I know I have damaged my body and mind in this way numerous times over the years.

Whether you are a Bible reader or not, almost everyone has heard the verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. The truth is that no one will take care of you as well as you can. No one knows our feelings, thoughts, needs, like we do ourselves. Normally, we take care of ourselves better than others, so this Bible verse is helping open our eyes to the fact that we need to treat others as we want to be treated. This verse helps us to understand what Jesus is teaching as we all know how we want to be treated. Everyone wants to be loved, respected, and cherished, and through this verse, we understand we need to treat others with the same kindness.

In our day and age, we have a unique problem that is progressively getting worse, and that is SELF DESTRUCTION. This is especially true in women. The enemy (aka the devil) has come to steal, kill, and destroy. In women, he is especially effective at destroying our confidence, our sense of feeling beautiful, and our self-worth. Can I get an Amen?

For some of us, if we were to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, our neighbors would be pretty pissed!

Think about all the things you say to yourself on a daily basis. Now, imagine saying those things out loud directed at someone else! Yikes! Do you ever tell your inner self “I love you”? I know that may sound foreign to you, but why not? Loving yourself is not cocky, conceded, or arrogant. In fact, when other people have these attitudes of arrogance, 99% of the time it’s because of lack of self-confidence. Loving yourself is not arrogance, it is one of the BEST things you can do for your health!

I am reading a book right now by Louise L. Hay, called “You Can Heal Your Life“. AMAZING book and probably unlike anything you’ve ever read about health. Louise believes that nearly all state of dis-ease in the body comes from a lack of self-love. She also believes that any lack in life- finances, love, success- also stems from a lack of self-love. Obviously this is a very basic statement, and the book goes into much more detail, but this theory has a lot of merit to it, and many specialists have proven this to be true over the years as they continue to heal disease & cancers by addressing mental/emotional factors.

Think about it, if you love your body, you’ll take care of it- you’ll put healthier foods into it, you’ll exercise more, groom it better, you’ll feel better, be happier, and meditate on being, feeling, doing good.

If you loathe your body, you’re in an abusive relationship with yourself. You’ll end up putting junk into it, damaging it with hateful words, you most likely will hate exercise, and you’ll be stuck meditating on all the negative things in your life.

You attract into your life what you focus and meditate on. Those are two VERY different lives stemmed from one simple difference- their perspective and the way they love themselves.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

I want you to take notice of how you’re treating yourself today. Stand in front of a full length mirror and look at yourself with eyes of love and appreciation. Tell yourself “I love you”, “Thank you for working so hard and doing a million things per second to keep me alive. I promise to love you a little more each and every day, because you were created PERFECT.” Maybe write down all your thoughts that you have towards yourself so you can reflect on what’s really going on. We all have an inner child within us. This isn’t voodoo, hocus pocus, new agey philosophy, it’s reality. Talk to yourself as if you were talking to a 3-year-old. If a 3-year old fell down, would you kick them while they’re down, call them a failure, and tell them that no one will ever love them because they fell? OF COURSE NOT! You’d help them up, dust them off and tell them to try again, keep going, they’re doing great!

SO MUCH WILL CHANGE if we can do this one simple thing. I know you can do it! Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Let me know how it goes!

Have a beautiful Sunday everyone!

XOXO,

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.^‘ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28-31