As Rumi wrote: “If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
But, honestly, and no offence meant to Rumi, I think it’s human to feel irritated by this process. Let’s be real. It’s not fun being sanded, shaped and polished. It’s not fun facing all our fears and pain and parts of us we don’t yet know how to meet with love.
It was one of the greatest nights of my life.
One hundred people mingled together in the small room I had booked next to a large music venue.
As an introvert who has always loved helping to create a sense of community for people (but rarely do because I truly border on reclusive), knowing that I had brought all these people together and that they were now connecting, talking and laughing thrilled me. But the best part? They had all come to listen to me read from my newly launched book Help Me, Asia: Five Countries, One Mission, Learn How to Be Happy–the writing of which had been a trying, 10-year labour of love.
Do what your heart most wants to do. Not because you’re necessarily going to be great at it, or become famous, or make a million dollars doing it. But because: This. Is. Your. Life.
The real confusion around self love is that people think it’s a noun, but it’s actually a verb.
It’s something you actively choose to do. Every day.
Notice how you feel during the moments when you are doing the things I’ve listed below. I’ll bet you feel good. That’s what self love feels like. Worth pursuing, no?
Self love (and, by extension, self trust) is hard.
It’s hard to talk about, because we’ve been taught that it’s either airy fairy or it’s selfish.
It’s hard to do, because our culture barely talks about or openly practices it, so we don’t even know what it looks or feels like.
