"Sometimes our wins may depend upon our willingness to abandon our self-images - letting go of the need for approval, and putting ourselves first before giving a fuck about what anybody thinks of us or might view us as."

I agree. Deep down it has to do with a lack of Self-Love. "I love you as much as I love myself instead of "I love myself as much as I love you" should be our directive, realizing that we can give Love to others only to the extend we love ourselves and not vice versa.

We are all Self-contained Universes having all tools within to reach that inner Peace and Joy. "As within, so without", the hermetic wisdom goes. We are the projector and the external our movie screen. Most Souls on Earth still attempt to change the movie screen instead of the projector, a method which obviously is doomed to fail. The movie screen is just the surface and the end-product, yet every tiny mechanism which shapes this end-product is being adjusted and created in the projector WITHIN.

"Embracing the full-spectrum of light and dark that resides within and eminates from us."

Exactly. Light and Dark are inevitably glued together like two sides of a coin. And only by experiencing the latter we can experience the former.

The Universe has its own order and the best way to take control of it is to not take control of it.

Thanks for your dedicated lines!