We sometimes get out of our way to reach out to what we want in life.
Little that we know everything that we want is already within us.
In this beautiful month of Muharram 1443H, I'm reminiscing.
We often seek love, validation from others. Sometimes, not knowingly the other person we seek love and validation from is even struggling to have it for themselves.
See! Most people even struggle with a gift to share.
It’s no one’s fault. I would call it a vicious cycle repeating itself.
After doing some overthinking and over-reading (while preparing for my content), I came out with a notion that; Self-love is the highest form of love. That unconditional love to always promise ourself to be a better person, to be patience with our own shortcomings, to cultivate knowing and understanding and eventually keep some room for growth, and along the way, the feeling of being loved to way we desire to feel loved.
I’m taking a break from life coaching this month. I suddenly feel the need to make room for me to take that evening walk and touch those flowers by the road side, watch little kids running around catching butterflies, listening to my favourite songs on repeat and dream a little more, take my time with my cooking and enjoy the lovely smell of home cooked meal, watch running waters filling up the bathtub and endure every tiny things a bit more than usual.
LOVE.
Mystical word, yet so profound.
We search for this word within our world. Sometimes in someone else’s world.
If you have followed and listened to many motivators, you’ve probably have heard them saying “Self-love is the real love” or! Or Or! Self-love is not selfish”.
And you probably wonder if this statement is even true.
Have we ever asked ourselves, how many of us has put an effort to love ourselves first before loving others?
Do we even know the action of loving self before loving others?
Is it difficult?
Is it committable?
Have we love ourselves the way we wanted to be loved, the way we project our love before loving others?
Ok, let me rephrase that.
Do we seek in others the feeling (of love) we can’t even give ourselves?
Because from my lenses and understanding, if we don’t have it within ourselves, we don’t have that gift to share.
Photo: Author in Doha, May 2018.