The Season of Love Is Upon Us! Are You Loving Yourself?

There are many things to love in this world. This season of love that is upon us reminds us to celebrate romantic love...which is a wonderful thing...but it is also a time to celebrate all that you love, not just a single relationship.I am lucky to love where I work, and the people I work with. I am blessed with a wonderful family, and kind and caring friends. I did not always feel this way. Like everyone else, I have been on a journey this lifetime. A journey alongside others, while at the same time changing and growing myself.One of the things I have learned over the years in my capacity as a healer, is that the greatest joy and the greatest challenge for most people is to learn how to love themselves. Truly. Not superficially. To love themselves deep down to the core of their being.People who truly love themselves are not fearful, they do not need to control things, they do not have an agenda, they do not require your attention, they do not waste time in competition, or with petty things, they do not need to convince you of anything, they just allow. They are calm and peaceful and content. They are not searching. They are Glowing. Children are naturally this way,  and on some level I think we all know this, and subconsciously desire to return to our innocent loving childlike state in that regard. That innocence and wonder, that eternal trust, and open heart. Who doesn't want that? Because let's face it, having a broken heart hurts. We learn as we go through life that our heart can be fragile, we become hurt, and we begin to close ourselves off to others, become guarded, defensive, we learn to let less and less love in.Until you learn to love yourself you cannot truly love another. Not really. Your love will always have conditions. It will look like this: I will love you if you do 'this and 'this' and 'this' for me. Your failure to do 'this' means I will withhold my love. This is not love. That is control.Real love is not self serving, it is selfless. Watch little children, how they love, how they play. They live Hearts Wide Open. Honest, Trusting and Loving. I believe we can learn so much from them.I endeavour to be more like a child and Live every day with my Heart Wide Open. To be honest, I am not there yet. Like many of you I sometimes struggle with releasing past hurts, hurt feelings, betrayal of trust, the awful feeling that comes with being misjudged by another.But we cannot give up, we need to keep trying to open our hearts up, more and more, to forgive past hurts and to allow Love to Heal.It Can Truly Heal All Things! I KNOW this to be true above all else. LOVE DOES HEAL ALL. I have experienced this miracle over and over again in my own life. It is remarkable.I also know this. If we really want this world to change for the better, we need to start by healing our Own Hearts.Love one another this Valentines Day. Be grateful and thankful for the ones you love in your life who love you, and please take some time to Love Yourself deeper.Find the courage to look deep inside yourself and find a hidden hurt that you need to forgive(we all have something) and let go of it. If it seems too big, allow yourself to begin to heal it little by little.You will feel lighter. You will begin to smile more. But more importantly your ability to truly love others will expand.  If we all do this together just imagine the change we can create!Much Love,KerriP.S.  Two of My All-time Favourite books about LOVE are:  'Love Without Conditions' by Paul Ferinni and 'Mastery of Love' by Don Miguel Ruiz. I highly recommend them both for anyone wanting to deepen their capacity to Love.