Self Healing is Self Love

Click here to listen to today’s Daily Power Prayer for Self Love!:

Self-abuse, and specifically abusing our bodies is one of the most prevalent acts of violence I see people participating in around the world today. There is hardly a one of us that couldn’t take better care of ourselves in many little ways. Aren’t all those little acts of abuse a form of self-sabotage?

And isn’t all self-sabotage really a way to slow down our spiritual growth and expansion so that we can try to manage it?

Something I’ve done, and I’ve seen other spiritual seekers do it too, is we try to separate ourselves from our body. Yes, we are not our bodies, and still, they are the vehicle we’ve chosen to make this human journey in. The mind is such a powerful instrument that it actually has the ability to convince us that we are separate from our bodies in such a way as to feel dis-embodied and not responsible for our own self-care.

While we can transcend the body, and it is not who we are, it IS the suit we wear to this human party. I feel better when I appreciate my body and treat it with love and respect for all that it offers me. It is an excellent tool for communication and clarity and we must respect that rather than create one more forgiveness episode.

How many times have I eaten things that I KNEW would make me feel badly? Is that not self-abuse? Would I feed a child something I knew would make them feel poorly just to give them a momentary pleasure? Hopefully not. In THE SELF HEALING COOKBOOK, Kristina Turner writes “Everyone has minor symptoms. Aches and pains, tension, upset stomachs, headaches, skin eruptions, mood swings, occasional colds and flu … A self-healing lifestyle starts with recognizing that minor symptoms don’t just happen TO us. We have an active hand in creating them, by the choices we make in our daily lives.”

Today, I take an honest look at where I am in terms of physical self-abuse vs self-healing. My practice of nonviolence starts with the treatment of my own body. I make a commitment to start the self-healing today. Today I stop one abusive behavior and replace it with a loving one. I change my relationship to myself and I change my relationship to all life.

Affirmation:

I love myself enough to be kind to myself today.