Meditation on the Transformative Power of Loving All of Us Just as We Are

You know what helps me become less selfish and more giving?  My wife Lisa’s love of my selfishness.  What I mean by this is Lisa loves ALL of me exactly as I am.  She accepts every single bit of me for no reason, which is what love does.  As a yoga teacher I end up doing a fair bit of work at home, which means I “could” do chores, cooking, and other stuff to help the family during my work day.  Since I’m fairly driven and focused, though, I’ve more than once told Lisa I’m NOT going to do those things during that time.

Yet, the other day she got up extra early to prepare dinner for some friends coming over that night.  To make a long story short, a big reason why she didn’t get her usual sleep is because she felt my driven nature would lead me to say “no” if she asked me to prep dinner during my business hours.  Lisa’s love and embrace of all of me just as I am inspires and frees me to transform into a more caring and giving person.

As Richard Rohr says: “Such utterly free and gratuitous love is the only love that validates, transforms, and changes us at the deepest levels of consciousness.  It is what we all desire and what we were created for.  Once we allow it for ourselves, we will almost naturally become a conduit of the same for others.”  Here’s to loving and accepting our whole selves and the entirety of others, as it’ll free us to become the most amazing versions of ourselves!  So, today I invite us to practice loving every bit of ourselves just AS WE ARE.  Lets especially “smile” at the parts of us we tend to ignore or shame, while also choosing to love ALL of other people’s messy selves.