Inner Joy & Self-Love

Lately I've been at odds with myself about various behaviors and habits, and come to think of it, this has turned out to be a very good thing for my personal expansion. I've done quite a lot of metaphorical kicking and screaming so far in 2018, but I have become conscious enough to recognize that this is the same thing I've done in previous years. I know I want change in my life, but continuing to do the same thing this year is not going to yield different results.

It was time I woke up. And I have.

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I'd like to share a bit about what I'm learning and implementing in my life, but I'll do it in small readable chunks so my posts aren't massive in length.

This first post is about inner joy and self-love.

We're often told that life is meant to be a constant struggle (probably from bitter people!) or that if we're not wearing ourselves out (sometimes cleverly referred to as "taking one for the team" or sacrificing a personal need for the wants of others) then we're not on the road to success, wealth, happiness, etc. While there is much to be learned from struggle and there is no avoiding it at times, I feel there is no reason for it to remain constant or to seek it out as many seem to do. The whole point is to move beyond the struggle and uncover the inner joy and love we're all meant to experience in this life.

I believe we have to let go of the struggle the best we can while still remaining joyous and loving. If you allow a struggle to cause you misery then you won't have access to your joy or love. The struggle exists in order to extract its lessons, apply those lessons, and blissfully move on.

Our inner joy and love have little to do with other people. In fact, let's call this love self-love in order to be more accurate.

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Other people cannot make a person happy in the long-term, not in and of themselves -- just as material items and circumstances cannot make someone happy. Other people do not make one whole, they are not our rock and they cannot shoulder the weight of the world for anyone else.

The people we love and care about cannot love us or anyone else back unless they uncover and nurture their inner joy and cultivate genuine self-love first. If they don't do this self-reflected work, any attempts at giving love to or receiving love from others will be a futile attempt.

Loving yourself and knowing yourself is the key to everything we want and need in this life. It is my belief that everything else follows suit without the struggles that most of us get so caught up in.

How do we get to that point where we can love and know ourselves? More importantly, what is the process of this? I promised that this post wouldn't be too long, so I'll offer my thoughts on that topic in the next post.

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