Love Yourself

You treat yourself the same way you're going to be treated. It may sound kind of trite but it's true and I think this statement even precedes the "golden rule": "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Fill your own cup and it's only natural that it will spill over to others.

I almost didn't add this but I think I have to just to balance the equation. Loving yourself is not to be confused with narcissism which I consider to be the opposite. Narcissists look at the world in terms of "I never have enough" and so they don't actually give themselves love. The narcissist focuses on a lack around them and is self-concerned.

My first stay in AZ this year

A night in the desert

The terrain lays vast and speechless

Only after the sun has danced through the motions

Of it's rich descent through the western sky

And the moon dreams down upon me with favor

Familiar smells, sensations, take a whirl at

Dragging me into a past

Or egging me on towards a future

Yet I awake to the present moment

Where pain and beauty find their meeting place

Aware and ever present in each other's company

For a moment I find still peace

And the saguaro, strong and wise

Doesn't need eyes to see this

Chuang Tzu

Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly...
Suddenly I awoke...
Now, I do not know whether I was then
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly
dreaming that I am a man.

Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)

A fellow artist recently shared this and I found it beautiful & on point

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know 
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

(Oriah Mountain Dreamer)

Your freedom...especially of thought and feeling

I cannot encourage enough the importance of not allowing others to dictate to yourself how to think, or how to feel. And just as severe- don't handicap yourself by attempting to curb, hide or restrict the thoughts and feelings that flow and occur naturally. Most notably, many try to hide their pain, but pain is something you carry because you feel your deepest strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. At the root of it all, I feel many are afraid of themselves, and of their own reality; their thoughts and their feelings most of all. Many talk about how great love is, but in all honesty love can be painful and some feelings are disturbing.  We all experience pain and it's a feeling that wakes us up. Your feelings are a part of you and your personal reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re trading in your reality for a show. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on an act. There can't be any form of positive large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. Allow yourself to experience your deepest fear, and it will dissolve until you break free.

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)

Vexed?

On and on the river flows,

Through gentle rise and fall,

Through aggressive tides,

To accept or contest the currents?

Masterful woe, 

Or domineering preferment.