Self Love 04

 

it starts with you

Vulnerability is the path to connection

Below are two

Ted Talks about vulnerability and its path to connection:

vulnerability as courage, a catalyst for enhanced intimacy, trust and interconnection

…and also a path to creativity, innovation, change, and Love

talks given by Brene Brown

in chronological order:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/10/174033560/can-we-gain-strength-from-shame

Self Love 03

 

 

We Love others best when we Love ourselves too!

What if you slowed down and took a break…

 

Before I Die

So there is a cool house in my neighborhood that always has a chalkboard hanging in a tree between the sidewalk and the street with a single word on it. The word changes frequently, a few times a month.  Today I was driving by the same house and there was another chalkboard.  This newer one is of the same size but in a portrait orientation and hanging from an adjacent tree about 5 feet away from the one with the single word.  Below are the contents of the board which I slowed down to read as I passed down the residential street under a canopy of trees whose branches are just beginning to fill in with leaves.  I was immediately struck by item number 5 on the list of “before I die I would like to…” that I flipped around to get out and take a photo to extend the viewing audience of this list beyond those traveling the neighborhood.  I do not know if the residents made the question and answered it themselves as a statement or if passersby wrote in the blanks.  I was taken aback at how simultaneously bold and vulnerable, audacious and exposed this statement is; just hanging in a tree down the street.  It is empowering somehow knowing that others are also on the quest to discover and embrace Love of self.

What does Self Love look like?

 

 

 

 

 

As a visual and performing artist, my task in this journey is to create images, works of art, and experiences which represent ideas which are complex and multi-faceted.  In the discovery the lessons  of deeper and universal meanings of what Love is and what Love looks like, I would like to submit my representations of what Love of Self looks like to me.  I hope that others will also submit their ideas of what Self Love looks like.  It can look like a still or moving image, an experience, an object, a captured moment of joy and reflection, or a glimpse into a place of vulnerability and humanness.

 

 

 

 

Self Love Can Do That…

 

In times of tragedy or crisis, you can take care of the world by caring for your self; change in the world starts with each of us!   Feed you inner light and it can shine bright…maybe even illuminate others.

 

Some recommendations for supporting yourself during times of tragedy…

By:  Change is yours- http://www.changeisyours.com
1 – Take care of yourself. Treat yourself gently and with respect, like you would treat a friend who was grieving.
2 – Don’t repeatedly check the news and social media.
3 – Acknowledge your feelings. Name them but you don’t need to explain them to yourself or anyone else.
4 – Talk to your friends and family or anyone who supports you.
5 – If you are a parent, utilize these great resources to talk to your children:
http://bit.ly/TSE3Oc
http://ow.ly/g7hAL

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/terror_general.aspx

6 – Envision the ideal future that you wish for the world.
7 – Find peace in your own soul today (and every day) by counting your blessings/gratitude. Why is this important? In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Process

Getting to know

a place

a person

an artwork

a season

a scent

the snow

a book

a piece of music

your newborn

the breeze

the sea

a river

 

 

takes time

we learn to Love