Daily Manifestation Challenge, Gratitude, Self Image

What Do You Love About Yourself? Daily Manifestation Challenge

October 16, 2011

Today’s Challenge is a Love Note.

To Yourself.

When I teach kids, special needs or not, and I ask them the question What do you love about yourself? it’s easy for them to answer. It’s like saying yes to cake or staying up late. A no brainer. They have a long list even.

It’s especially inspiring to me to watch the kids with special needs answer this. One of my girls, who is autistic and blind, answered ” my life!” when I asked her what she loved about herself.

She loves her life even though she can’t see a damn thing!

I know a few people I would like to have her hang out with. I would hire her as their teacher and have her show them what self-love and gratitude looks like, in the dark, with no mirrors or television.

I ask my adult students What do you love about yourself?

Dead silence.

Crickets.

Tumbleweeds.

What the hell did she just say? 

Or they pretend I was not talking to them.

Yes you. I am talking to you.

I am not suggesting that you to be conceited or arrogant or think yourself better than anyone else. Quite the contrary. Do you have any idea how inspiring and contagious and humbling it is to be around someone filled with self-love? They never come across as “cocky”.

There is an inherent difference between being arrogant and truly loving yourself. Just think of this: The guy you went out with and maybe even slept with who didn’t call you ever again after he said he would; he’s most likely arrogant. The person who looks at the reflection of themselves in the window instead of looking at you as you speak is arrogant and, frankly, kind of rude.

That’s not self-love we are talking about. These aren’t the people we look to and think Wow, I’d love to live my life like that. I aspire to be that way. The love they have for themselves is overflowing and now I love myself even more! 

I went and saw my mentor Wayne Dyer speak in Pasadena Friday night as his daughter Skye’s guest. She sings at his events. It was a dream come true for me and something I have manifested into my life. He spoke of the the God within each of us. One of the most profound things he talked about was the fact that the only place in the Bible where God is named is the Old Testament. And God’s name is….. I AM.

I am.

Wow.

God is in every single one of us then? 

Yes.

This is not blasphemy. It is finding the part of you that is birthless, deathless and never changing. Call it God, call it what you like, call it “I” even. It is the “I am” in you. In plainspeak, it is the most YOU part of you.

People are often scared to love themselves. I know, I get it. I didn’t love myself for a very long time and even went to great lengths to abuse myself, emotionally and physically.

It’s as if we have been raised by a pack of wolves and told never to love ourselves, at least not openly, or other wolves will eat us.

With children there is no stigma. I taught the kids at the Prader Willi Research Conference of Saturday and we sat in a circle and I asked ” What do you love about yourself?” There was a fight over who would answer first. They all wanted to tell me.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX1zlg_ERcw&feature=channel_video_title]

Can you imagine adults being this way? Authentically? Why not? What are we so afraid of? What the tribe will think? The wolves will get us? We’ll sound stupid?

Probably.

Some may not even be able to think of one thing they love about themselves. It takes practice and a willingness to see the parts of you that at first may not seem like the “best” parts. My hearing loss for instance. It used to make me despise myself but now I feel as if it has made me more compassionate and a healer.

One of the boys this weekend told me he loved his artwork. One said he loved his life. One loved her smile and her belly.

I am still waiting for the day where I say ” I love my belly.”

One of the boys had this tshirt on:

What makes you uniquely you and not Joe the Plumber or your mom or the person texting in the car next to you?

Today’s Daily Challenge is to make a list. You don’t have to check it twice. You just gotta live it! Each day write down at least one thing you love about yourself. No crossing it off, just adding on. For the rest of your life.

In the comment section below, if you feel brave enough and inspired, leave your “Love Note” as it were.

I love my injuries because they have allowed me to be a better yoga teacher.

I love my heart and it’s capacity to love.

I love my hearing loss because my other senses, such as my touch, are that much stronger.

I know it will get hard at times. It gets hard when you are out of work or in a bad mood or feel like you have gained weight or hurt someone or they have hurt you or you have gotten sick. I know it’s hard. Trust me, there are days when I yell and cry and scream “Fu*k you Ears!”

I curse. Get over it.

I am still spiritual but I do curse and drink wine and coffee. And I love that about me, Damnit!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Am that I Am:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I Am that I Am (Hebrew: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje]) is a common English translation (JPS among others) of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means “existed” or “was” in Hebrew; “ehyeh” is the first person singular imperfect form and is usually translated in English Bibles as “I will be” (or “I shall be”), for example, at Exodus 3:12. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is generally interpreted to mean I am that I am, though it can also be translated as “I-shall-be that I-shall-be.”[1


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No Comments

  • Reply teri October 17, 2011 at 3:12 am

    I love my cheeks and my dimples!! (and I loved this post)

  • Reply MyMiBoSo (@MyMiBoSo) October 17, 2011 at 6:12 am

    I love my nerdiness 🙂 I love that it drives me to want to research and learn more about everything around me!

    I’m no expert, just a seeker – trying like most to find that balance between the Mind, Body, and Soul.

    -Sabrina
    http://www.MyMiBoSo.com

    P.S. And I ALSO love the work you do in manifestation – so important to keep your thoughts aligned!

  • Reply barbarapotter October 17, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    Just spent the weekend with the kids with Prader Willi Syndrome and their beautiful smiles. Saw how they love themselves and how happy they are. Never thought about what I love about myself. I could tell you in a heartbeat what I love about everyone else. Funny how we do that. Always tend to think about what I “don’t like”. Today when I see my daughters and what great people they are I love about myself that I was a great mother and turned out some amazing people.

  • Reply katemcclafferty October 17, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    I love my willingness to try and I loved this post! xoxo

  • Reply Amy Esacove October 17, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    I love the time and love that I give to my friends. I love grabbing food at the store and descending upon my friends’ homes and cooking a meal, laughing, drinking and making them happy! I would LOVE to have a friend like me!

  • Reply Kells October 17, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    I love my nose, lol. I love my crazy faith level, although others try to knock it down, no matter what, it keeps whispering to me…I love loving my own company, God mad me a loner for a reason,for his good, and I’m no longer going to think any differently.

  • Reply Hannah B. October 18, 2011 at 5:39 am

    Jen, this post could not have come at a better time for me. You are so inspiring. Thank you for reminding me that loving myself is just as important as loving others.

    I love my huge smile. I love my compassion for others. I love my stubbornness because it allows me to never give up on things that I am truly passionate about. I love the light inside me that has brought some of the most genuine, wonderful people into my life.

    I asked my boyfriend, and he said without hesitation, “I love the music inside me.” 🙂

  • Reply Almudena Alcazar October 18, 2011 at 6:22 am

    I love my back injury because without it, I would have never discovered Yoga, and without Yoga I would have never discovered my true self.

  • Reply Lizzy P October 18, 2011 at 8:17 am

    I love that I am different than my parents!!! And that I get to end the cycle of perfectionism. And that with my lack of perfectionism comes a whole other great host of earthly qualities. I love that I get to live my life the way I want to. I am grateful that I get to live my truth with passion, and love and a smile! I love that I am not perfect and am becoming more and more be grateful for my crazy offbeat free spirited nature everyday!!! 🙂

    (and Kells, I love my company too, as much as I am extremely social, I’m a loner too, you can just “hear” the universe and source more clearly alone!) 🙂 Love to you! Loners unite!!

  • Reply Anne October 18, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    I love my happy energy. I love that I am a morning person. I love that I can fall asleep almost anywhere. I love how much I like coffee and freshly baked anything. I love how I love fuzzy things, including shih tzus. I love that I smile so much. I love that I have learned how to relax a little more when I am feeling sad or tired or overwhelmed. I love that I love traveling mostly because I can find new places to eat. I love that I love to hug and be affectionate.

  • Reply Diane Seely October 18, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    I love what I see when I look into the mirror… what I see is my mother. I have her lips, they are full and perfect. They are my best feature! I have her eyes and I have her hair. I know that I am blessed by her beauty. Folks used to say that she resembled Elizabeth Taylor. It’s not that I am shallow, it’s more that I am appreciative of the gift from my mother. I am a girly-girl and I love being a woman, and I have no shame it that! As a little girl I loved watching my mother put on her make-up. I sat on the toilet seat for hours in our small pink tiled bathroom. I loved how she lined her lips in a her favorite shade of red, and then blotted them with a piece of folded toilet paper. I used to keep these scraps of her lip-prints in a drawer in my bedroom. I loved they way she drew black lines around her eyes. Much like the way I wear my make-up today! I loved washing her hair and setting it in rollers, teasing it and making it big, and then spraying it all in place with her Aqua-Net! I loved washing her back for her while she taking her bubble bath. I know you may think that is strange..but, I really didn’t mind. We would pick out her outfit together, I love that she cared enough to ask my opinion. Before she got dressed, I would powder her back with her favorite: Ester Lauder…I still love the smell of it!
    I am her inside and out. Good and bad it’s what t I love most about me.
    But what I am most grateful for the things you cannot see that she has given me. All that I am as a mother and I wife I learned from her. I am never going to be a corporate lawyer, I am never going to have initials at the end of my name…I am happy to be me…
    Diane M.O.M., W.I.F.E., S.I.S.T.E.R.,F.R.I.E.N.D.

  • Reply DJ October 18, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    I ran a mentally disabled group home, and I have to tell you that I agree whole heartedly that it is such an amazing, inspiring, and incredible experience I ever had. They laughed and enjoyed life and were disabled is so many ways. Some think oh they can’t be happy with their life or love themselves, but they do. Some have these amazing goals even though they know it might not ever be achievable. They have great big hearts. They made me laugh on my worst days. It was rewarding and such a blessing to be in contact with them everyday. I actually recently blogged about it and giving back. There is nothing like it. They see the world in a different way and love in a capacity that is remarkable. It just goes to show you you can love your life and be happy regardless of what might be ailing us.

    So for me:

    I love that I am caring and will go the distance for my loved ones (friends or family)-really the same thing to me.

    I love that I am a loyal, true, honest, and real friend thru thick and thin

    I love that I recognize my faults

    I love my huge heart

    I love my good soul

    I love that I am strong and when I fall I do get back up even if it takes some time

    I love that I love unconditionally when I love

    I love that I feel blessed even when things are not the best

    I love that I have the capacity to forgive anybody for anything

    I love that I don’t give up on people bc they made a mistake

    I love that I have some of the greatest friends and support system new and old

    I am grateful that I know inspirational people in my life *wink*

    Much like what you stated above about yourself I can relate and appreciate. I too struggled with loving myself for various reasons, and sometimes I do fall back on that. I too would beat myself up and abuse myself emotionally, mentally, and physcially for sometimes no reason other than I felt I deserved it or it just bc it was easy to do rather than putting forth any effort.

    Hey I was on a good roll. Until this exercise, I think I forgot what I loved about myself for awhile :)))))

    I am grateful and thankful for many things in my life good and bad bc they all are for a reason and teach us something about ourselves and love.

    You are an awesome inspiration and person as always Ms. Jen xo
    Much love
    It is good to challenge ourselves in this way. 😀 Great blog. Thank you!

  • Reply Lauren October 19, 2011 at 5:02 am

    I love my strong body that no matter what I put it thru is always resilient. I love my big heart that loves fully and unconditionally. I love that I’ve learned to stand up for myself. I love that I’ve found yoga and learned to be dedicated to something. I love that people come to me for help and trust my opinions.
    And I really love my legs, arms and long thick hair 🙂

  • Reply Annie Freeman October 19, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    I love my ability to really listen

    love YOU!

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