Love and Acceptance of Self

                                 


                            Love For Self:

what it means to me.

Being honest about the woman in the mirror is the best gift I can give myself...

It serves noone to be anyone else or anything else.

Plus, I'm so forgetful that if I were ambitious enough to try to be someone else,

I'd soon have a hard time remembering just who that gal was?

It's better this way.

I actually like myself and the direction I'm headed.

And I accept that I am an Evolving human being

that is entitled to make course corrections when needed.

Knowing my Limits is a gift of love to myself.

I am never going to climb Mt. Kilamajaro.
Or be in a Rock Band.

Or win at Dance Dance Revolution.
I cannot do ALL things well.

I can do somethings quite well though.

I am not terribly witty or unusually smart. Or a Scriptorian.

But I'm clever enough for my husband and my kids,

I have sought out careers that express my passions,

and I know that once I open the scriptures

my day is going to be better.

I am patient with myself. My expectations are reasonable.

My footprints may not stand the test of time

But then again, I'm not trying to be larger than life.

The idea of being someone like "Pioneer Woman"

makes me pee my pants.

My expectations of myself are:

to raise my kids in a home of logic and love;

in a way that will show them that giving your best

is worth what it costs; 
is in no way

glamourous, but can be joyful. 

I am gentle with myself.

I need mercy.
 I'm not perfect,
but I'm not happy

making excuses

for my weaknesses either.

I believe that to be "Great and Noble"

One must do what the "Great and Noble"

Do.

So That's my goal.

I don't want to be famous.

I want to be Great. And Noble.

Even if noone else notices.

I want to be Great for the sake of being Great.
In my own shoes.

Self-love is more than the food we eat
,the clothes we wear,
the color of our hair

though those things do
reflect how we feel about ourselves.

I like to wear: *red when I am feeling unsure.

*Black when I want to blend into the scenery.

*My 11-year-old Breckenridge sweatshirt

with holey sleeves, frazzled neckline,

and alien spots in various places

when I feel loved for who I am.

I don't color my hair, "cept those two times
 when I dyed it MEDIUM Brown

and it came out Elvis Presley blue-black.

I have little grey hairs coming in at the sideburns
and along the hairline.

I used to pull them...

sometimes I still do.

I really wish my whole head would just go grey all at once!

I've earned a headfull of amazing white hair,
like a red badge of courage.

Only white.

Loving my body. 
I have stretchmarks that could

serve as a map of the London Underground
Mind The Gap!

Each one, again, earned as I carried 7 babies

to full-term pregnancy.
 I used to wish them away.

Or rub cocoa butter on them
like a buddah belly.

Now I don't even notice them.

I just notice that my belly isn't
smooth and firm like it was when I was a kid.

But even that, I don't dwell on.
What a waste of time.

Maybe when I can't find my size at Kohl's anymore,

I might seriously fall apart in the dressing room.

Maybe someday there'll be "drive-thru liposuction":

"Um, yeah, I"ll have a happy meal with a Sprite,

and some fat off my thighs today, thanks."

I laugh at Myself. My foibles.My lunacy.

I laugh more than I cry.

My kids can laugh at themselves
and laugh with me too.

Those are my favorite mom-moments.

Somedays, I just crack myself up for no apparent reason.

Even when I am alone.

Laughing at myself gives me permission

to not be perfect. It feels good.

Self-love means acknowledging both 
my Strengths and my weaknesses...

with equality.

Sometimes I need a kick in the butt

to remind me of my strengths

because my weaknesses

demand more attention.

Yeah, they bite.

But my strengths give my heart peace

so I try to remember that.

"Men are that they might have joy"--right?

That's Self-Love to me.

...Appreciating where I've been,

what the Journey has been like so far,

and not grimacing when I look into the mirror.

The older I get, the better the reflection,

another good thing about poor eyesight.

My Self is a good Self.

What about you? How do you love the You that is YOU?