It Takes Self Love
My dear friend had recently hit the 100 mark; she had lost 100 pounds! I was one year cancer free! We had both hit major milestones!
I cannot imagine what she must have felt, how proud she must have been to lose 100+ pounds — all by working her tail off! Getting up before the crack of dawn, leaving the house to workout in the dark, and focusing on healthy food choices. She took no shortcuts. Day after day after day (for years — this is a true example of how slow and steady wins the race!). What an accomplishment! This took real dedication. And it took something else: true love of self. Loving yourself enough to focus on what matters in your life.
Although I don’t know exactly what she felt, or vice versa, we knew one thing: we both had reason to celebrate!
This was not going to be your regular ol’ girl’s weekend, but a, let’s live it up, hang out closer to a full week, stay at one of the nicest spas in the country type getaways — and celebrate! Celebrate what exactly? CELEBRATE US! Celebrate our health! Love ourselves enough to focus on what matters. And right then, what mattered was celebrating our health!
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Well, no trains, but after over a half day of travel, coming from two separate regions of the country, we both arrived here, in Sedona, Arizona. We stayed in one of the little square-like casitas you see:
Located directly behind the spa, was a walking trail leading up to an area known for the concentration of energy around points called vortexes. The subtle energy within these vortexes is said to create uplifting moods, sometimes lasting for days. On more than one occasion, we climbed this one:
On one of our hikes up, the first one actually, we heard music. Someone was playing a flute. Look at the image above. On the narrow landing to the far left sat a man playing the flute. I later found out the type of flute is called a Love Flute or Courting Flute, common among Native American flutes.
As we climbed higher, continuing in the direction of the music, we began to notice something:
Now that we had become aware of them, we estimated spotting over one hundred of them along the trail.
When we reached the top, we met Robert:
Robert, the man responsible for the deluge of hearts and the beautiful flute music. Go figure, a man who after retiring, moved to Sedona, and chose to spend his days carving hearts out of stone and placing them all along a walking trail, would also play an instrument called the Love Flute. Of course he did.
With that same wide smile you see, he shared with us his vision of spreading love throughout the world, one tiny rock at a time.
It begins with self love. This inner love-joy-peace-feeling of being free that starts from within. A love that is solid as a rock.
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Claim your rock solid love today, Valentine’s Day. Be your own best Valentine today, tomorrow, and the next day.
Woven throughout today’s “picture-story” are several examples of self love. Leave a comment below and share how you show self love. I’ll start: I show self love by taking a nap when I’m tired, which is to say I listen to my needs and do not ignore them. Okay…your turn.
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Speaking of listening, join us on Sunday, as I’ll be sharing my first ever podcast — my conversation with Mark Nepo on his new book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. You’re not going to want to miss Mark, as he shares his thoughts on all sorts of things, including what it means to Trust Life.