Loving You

The difficulty in finding love that is good for you stems from the same difficulty you have loving yourself. For those who believe in God or a higher power, to not love yourself is to not love the very source of your existence. To not trust yourself is to not trust the source of all life. To not forgive and have compassion for yourself is to not have forgiveness and compassion for others created from the same source. What is this source? Call it what you will, all matter comes from energy and all energy comes from Source. Leave the scientists and religious thought leaders left to their devices to try and explain that. You focus on your relationship, to self and to source.

As we become more fully embracing of ourselves, having the intimate relationship that acknowledges the dark and light of who you are, you will bring more love into your life. Loving is vulnerable and the challenge is to be vulnerable to oneself first. It's a scary place to go. After all, we've all heard enough criticism and judgement from others throughout our lives about who we are, what we do wrong, and what we don't accomplish. When you have a dear friend who is being so self-critical, do you encourage and affirm that criticism or do you remind them that they're human just like everyone else? Do you tell them to be gentle with themselves, thereby empowering them to try again? As I recall, I didn't just hop on a bike the very first time and start riding like a pro. It took some practice and a few falls and scrapes. For that matter, after years of riding a bicycle, I still managed to have some rather nasty falls and run into parked cars when I wasn't looking.

If you'll be that supportive in your expression of love and compassion to another person, why wouldn't you give yourself the same courtesy? Owning your power is to not give it up, to not give it away. Keep working it, keep learning, keep falling, keep picking yourself up, keep laughing, and keep going. Life's just like that, so find the humor, the joy, the laughter and say piss-off to failure. Failure only happens when you give up completely. Tiredness is something you create through negative thinking and self-criticism. Find energy in your optimism and your thirst for adventure and the journey of learning that life brings to you.

It's a question of perspective. It's all in the vibe baby.

Lee Down is a Professional Coach, Trainer/Facilitator, Speaker, & Writer of One Man Can Human Capital Development that focuses on relationships, the key foundation to success in business and life. With more than 15 years professional experience and a thirst for truth and understanding, he focuses on the human spirit and human capacity.

Working with clients, he facilitates the breaking down of beliefs, barriers or obstacles that bring clients forward on their journey of discovery with spirit, energy, abundance, passion and purpose, integrating the mind and body experience. Working with business, he brings visionary leadership and relationship skills to the forefront that witnesses an empowered culture evolve and develop directly impacting the improvement to the bottom-line.

---

The Two Choices We Face

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about... Read More

Don?t Let the Boogeyman Steal Your Dreams

The boogeyman lurking in the closet scares the bejesus out... Read More

Believe In Yourself And Become a Winner: Lessons from Hollywood

Copyright 2004 Priya Shah A while ago I... Read More

Problems Arent Bad After all!

At first glance, when tough times hit, it seems the... Read More

Living on Purpose: One Rock at a Time

I just got back from Colorado where I spent a... Read More

Winning the Thought Battle

If you have read my articles or heard me speak,... Read More

How I Made $10,000 In One Day By Swimming Underwater!

"Without health, life is not life; it is only a... Read More

Playing With Fire

Direct Answers - Column for the week of October 21,... Read More

What Footsie Taught Us!

We have just inherited a rag, tag and bobtail of... Read More

From The Ashes

The man plopped down on his chair, defeated.His father's maxims... Read More

Stay Inspired

Two years ago I was in a wheelchair and told... Read More

5 Notions That Americans Should Put Out To Pasture

Wisdom and knowledge come from the same family but are... Read More

Anything That?s Worth Doing, Is Worth Doing Poorly

Yes you got it. You read it correctly. We're not... Read More

Who is the Pilot?

It was a mild summer day in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina... Read More

7 Perks to Living a Life on Purpose

1. We all have a purpose in this life time.The... Read More

Struggling With Addictions

What kind of bad habits do you struggle with? Most... Read More

Just One Person We All Need

I understand that all the self made people of this... Read More

In Tall Grass

My best friend, Ryan, told me last night he got... Read More

Keeping Faith

Direct Answers - Column for the week of June 30,... Read More

Been There, Done That

Fourteen years ago I was divorced from my second wife,... Read More

Re-Define Realistic: True Power Series

This is the eighth article in our "True Power" series.... Read More

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Whoever coined this phrase is a genius. Life finds ways... Read More

Spirits Language: How to Tell Whos Who in Your Inner Conversations

Your Spirit is continuously beaming communications to you. As long... Read More

Have You Lost Focus?

Matthew 5:14-16You are the light of the world. A city... Read More

What Company Does Your Business Keep?

A man is known by the company he keeps. We... Read More

Ask the Angels - Get Specific !

There are Angels for everything and they are just waiting... Read More

Finding Hope In Trying Times

Growing up, as a child of the 60's, peace, love... Read More

I Dare You To Be Successful

Just imagine how it would feel to be successful...., to... Read More

Adages for the New Age

The old familiar adages just don't do it for me... Read More

Have You Been Lucky In Life?

Each moment in life, "lucky" or "unlucky", is to be... Read More

Lifetime of Discoveries: Moments of Peace and Renewal

There are discoveries all around us—small gifts of joy that... Read More

A Life Time of Strategic Thinking

You may be one of the thousands who think "Strategic... Read More

Why Not Reinvent The Wheel?

"Why go and reinvent the wheel?" It's a question that's... Read More