…. a path to Self Love.
Happy Valentines Day! During this time where many people in the world are celebrating love I wanted to talk about what I feel is the most important kind of Love — Self Love. Many of us run around looking for love outside of ourselves not knowing that happiness is an inside job. My mentor and first coach has often said that two halves don’t make a whole. So if you are out there looking for a life partner or waiting for that special person in your life to complete you, it might be time to look within. Knowing, accepting, and loving yourself is the path to whole, your path to serenity.
I was thinking about the name of my company, Becoming Who We Are, and how I came up with it.
Just over 5 years ago, I was inspired to buy 5 copies of The Velveteen Rabbit. Let me correct that I was instructed to buy the books. It was late 2018 and just a couple of months after I had experienced a Spiritual Awakening of sorts. My intuition and listening skills were in high gear. So who was it that told me to buy the books? That’s a great question. It’s what I now refer to as a “download”. I just knew that I knew that I knew that I had to buy the book and 5 copies to be exact. I had evidence that acting on my intuition had lead me to amazing things and I at that moment ordered the books. I also purchased a audio version of the book on Audible.
If you are not familiar with the story, I recommend picking up a copy. If you know the story I think it’s worth another read. This work has been around awhile. It was originally published in 1922 by Margery Williams. I know I had heard the story as a child but don’t recall my family owing a copy. I did, however, received the book as a baby shower gift when I was in the process of adopting my first daughter Justin and often read it to her and then her sister Destiny as a bedtime story. I’ve probably read it several hundred times.
For those of you who missed it the work chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real. At one point rabbit and his friend the Skin Horse are conversing about how one becomes "Real” It had been suggested by some rabbits in the garden that rabbit wasn’t Real. When rabbit posed the question to his friend the Skin Horse answers,
“You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.” “Does it hurt?” asked rabbit. “ Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are real you don’t mind being hurt?”
Personally I believe the book is about self-love. I’ve read many other interpretations of this work and this is mine. I believe that you only become real or whole when you learn to love yourself. I had no idea why I had to buy five copies but I did. One by one the 5 recipients, over the course of almost a year appeared in my life. Each for a different reason, each of them found meaning in both the book and accepting the gift.
I learned that while being loved by others is amazing you have to love yourself first. It's my belief that at the core of dis-ease in most people, mental and physical is a lack of self-love. Additionally and sometimes separately we wear a mask and or do not allow their true authentic self shine through. I know for me it was both.
So I named my transformational coaching business “Becoming Who We Are” for this is the adventure. Those of us that are doing big and transformational work on self are becoming. At the core of this process is knowing, accepting and loving ourselves. It’s a life long pursuit for those of us who chose it. It’s not an easy path but one of great fulfillment. I haven’t reached Nirvana yet but I am enjoying my adventure on this path and helping others who are ready for change and willing to do the work. I know it’s a choice to either change and evolve or not.
Enjoy the one holiday devoted to LOVE and start with YOU.
Namaste.