Discovering Love for Self is Sacred Work

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I’ve wanted self-love and fought self-loathing for most of my life. Both have been hard to experience, but for different reasons.

Self-loathing does its devious work undercover. I can’t say that I’ve ever really known, consciously, that I loathe myself; but, I can say that I’ve struggled with finding myself ‘deserving’. The self-loathing part was undercover; what showed on the surface was a lack of confidence and being afraid to show myself to the world. It was only fairly recently that I came to feel the stuck emotion of self-loathing. It had been buried deep down for a long, long time.

Self-love has always seemed out of reach. For me, affirmations never worked. It has always been much harder for me to love myself than to love others. And it wasn’t until I began to look at the deepest and darkest places within me that the light of love within began to really shine. It was then that I realized I could never really love another until I discovered what it was to love myself.

Doing the work to find true self-love can be daunting, yet it is sacred work. It is deep, soulful and compassionate work.

When Jenn Gibson, founder of Roots of She, asked me to contribute to her new e-course called Self-love Warriors, I felt called to add whatever I could to what she was creating. One of the greatest things about Jenn’s creation is that it can be experienced by yourself or in community, or both. Learning to love oneself isn’t easy, yet it is important work. I believe Jenn has created something that is going to help many of us deepen this sacred work.

In the course, I’m the break-out guide for the fourth week, honoring the sacred feminine. Coming to know, in a deeply profound way, that the sacred is within you is one of the most beautiful ways you can honor and love yourself, other women and all of life.

I am an affiliate for the Self-love Warrior course, meaning that when someone uses the link I’ve provided here to purchase Jenn’s course, I receive a percentage. That being said, I feel it’s going to be a great course. Whether you decide to join us or not, I hope you dive in and open yourself to the deep well of love inside your own heart.

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Wild Child Update

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“Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing.  Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species.  Though the gifts of the wildish nature come to us at birth, society’s attempt to “civilize” us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls.  Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated, fearful, uncreative, trapped.” ~Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.


Yes, we have the gifts of this wildish nature at birth. And, we are conditioned out of them.

I was a wild child…and then I learned to be very careful and very cautious. I wrote about this in a post titled, Wild Child. I shared it as a guest post. And, I forgot to tell you…

Ooops.

I realized this when another woman I follow and love, Amanda of Kind Over Matter, posted her Friday’s Lovelies and included my post, Wild Child. I could see that more people would know about this post…a post I really love, that feels like a deep soulful dive into the essence of this woman’s journey…yet, I still hadn’t told you.

So, I’m rectifying this.

Wild Child was part of the Oh These Wild Women series at Roots of She, a site by Jenn Gibson.

I love this post, because in writing it, I tapped into something very deep and old, something wise and wild and free…exactly what Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. writes about. Upon finishing the post, some things have become more clear. I’ve even decided to return to Hana for my birthday in a few weeks, to reconnect with the land.

Both Roots of She and Kind Over Matter. They’re two beautiful sites that contain a bounty of beauty and fun for you to savor.

If you read Wild Child, I’d love to know what you think. There are already some beautiful comments there. You can add to the conversation by leaving a comment there, here, or both places.

With gratitude,

Julie

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