Love You! (Part 1)

Love YOU!

Yes, another way to say this is to "Love Yourself" - but I want to emphasize YOU! In today's podcast as well as in this blog entry, we are going to spend a little time with just two important points that I want you to consider today.

Before we do that, let's talk about what I DON'T mean when I say, "Love YOU!". We all realize that we are not alone in this world and that anything and everything we do has some sort of impact on others. You DO realize that, right?

That being so - and it is - we cannot afford to become so wrapped up in ourselves that we complete shut out the world around us and have no care or concern for those around us.

So, we're NOT talking about being SELF-ABSORBED.

Now, on the other side of that coin is the need for us to care about ourselves enough to be the best we can be. This is important for us and it is also important for that same impact on others I talked about earlier.

Do you care enough about YOU - love YOU enough - to take care of yourself spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically? If not, why not?

There are many in our world - and, no doubt, some that are reading this right now - that have been "beaten down" from an early age with cruel and deflating words. Sometimes these have come from "parents" (and I use that word loosely in this case) that told you early and often that you were worthless and/or no good.

That's hard to overcome!

Here's what often happens in a situation like that. You hear it again and again from someone that you expect to love you. So, if that person - that you think loves you - says it, then it MUST be true! You begin to believe it yourself and you begin to act as if you are of no value and you attract that in your life. Others that fuel their character deficiencies by dumping this type of negativity on others pick up on your feeling of inferiority and they gladly add to the pile of negativity that is heaped upon you.

After a period of time you develop such a huge belief of inferiority based on all of this, it is as if there is a huge concrete wall preventing anything good from ever reaching you.

POINT 1 FOR TODAY: It is NOT impossible to work through and break through that wall!

Now, understand - it won't be easy, but it IS possible! You are taking a step in that direction by reading this blog and, hopefully, listening to the podcast as well. A little at a time, you CAN make progress and chip away at that wall of negativity that surrounds you. Remember, "As long as there is breath there is hope!"

Don't get frustrated with yourself if you don't come out of this as quickly as you'd like. This didn't come on you overnight, did it? There are YEARS of layers that you have to work through and it WILL take time.

Also, realize that you may need to seek out professional help to get through this. There is no shame in that and it may be something you might consider.

POINT 2 FOR TODAY: Don't Use This As An Excuse!

Just as it is true that there are plenty of people out there ready to dump their negativity on you there are also plenty of people out there ready to help enable you to stay where you are.

What do I mean?

With the situation described above, you have a couple of choices: 1. Stay where you are and never come out of that feeling of inferiority or 2. DO something to change that in your life. Now, here's the kicker - sometimes we may SAY we want to do something to change our life and that we want to IMPROVE our lives, but we keep making excuses as to why we can't!

Think about it - by doing that, we are actually doing the very thing we DON'T want to do...stay in that prison of inferiority.

There are plenty of other people that will enable us to do just that by making excuses FOR US as to why we can't do anything powerful in our lives. I've seen this again and again. Instead of saying to a particular person, "You know, I know you have had a hard life and that there were some very difficult things that you had to live through, but it's time to claim the power in your own life and do something about it now!" they continue to make excuses such as, "We shouldn't expect too much from this person, after all, they had a rough time earlier in their life."

In my opinion, ENABLING is just as damaging as what was done in the first place with those harmful, negative words.

Excuses that you or others use to enable you to accept who/where you are KEEP YOU IN YOUR PRISON of inferiority!

DO NOT SETTLE FOR THAT!

We will continue this discussion tomorrow by going further into the idea of the importance of LOVING YOU, but I wanted to lay down these two principles right away for your consideration.

Hey, just remember - YOU CAN DO THIS!

And, as always...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike