Unlocking Your Inner Love: An Inward Journey to Self-Compassion
Click Here to Watch Najim’s Spiritual Teaching
Do you love yourself? Truly love yourself?
I’m not asking this from a place of arrogance or narcissism, but from a genuine desire to know if you’ve cultivated a deep love and appreciation for yourself.
We all experience that inner critic, the voice whispering doubts and insecurities.
But external validation, the perfect Instagram life, or the relentless pursuit of achievements won’t make you feel “enough.”
True self-love starts from within.
From Buzzword to Belief: Reframing Self-Love
Self-love is a major buzzword these days, with countless solutions, therapies, and practices promising to cultivate it.
But self-love is more than just techniques; it’s a perspective, an attitude. It all starts with the mind.
Without a foundation of self-love within, it’s nearly impossible to experience it anywhere else.
Many solutions take an “outward-in” approach.
However, I find it more helpful to focus on an “inward-out” approach.
We all experience moments of self-doubt and questioning.
I used to be a prime example, constantly doubting my abilities despite encouragement from others.
Even with a positive environment, my inner world needed work. It craved a space for love and self-compassion to flourish.
The Divine Spark Within: Recognizing Your Intrinsic Worth
That’s why your self-love journey should begin within.
There are many ways to cultivate this inner awareness of your own beauty.
I like to focus on who we truly are as human beings.
Rumi’s beautiful quote perfectly captures this essence: “You are a manuscript of a divine letter.”
We are all here for a reason.
Your very presence here, reading this article and absorbing its insights, reflects God’s intention for you to be here, right now.
If God desires your presence, then your life has immense value.
You are worthy of love.
We often seek love externally from others.
But it’s difficult to receive love from another if you don’t love yourself first.
You are the number one giver and recipient of love in your life.
That’s where it all begins.
Loving yourself can have many interpretations. It can be a feeling of calm and peace with yourself, a sense of comfort in your own skin.
But it can also mean expressing yourself freely, wearing what you like, and doing the activities you enjoy.
The Gift of Solitude: Embracing Your Own Company
Loving yourself also means carving out time for solitude, to simply enjoy your own company.
You see loneliness is a widespread issue these days, but being alone isn’t the problem.
There’s a distinction between being alone and being lonely.
Both involve having no one else physically present, but being alone involves enjoying your solitude, while loneliness signifies discomfort with it.
Social media’s proliferation, especially during the pandemic, highlights this discomfort.
As a society, many of us struggle with being alone.
While seeking connection is important — life is meant to be shared — it’s in those moments of solitude that we truly find ourselves.
And when we find ourselves, self-love begins to blossom.
From Shifting Sands to Still Awareness: Discovering Your Core Self
One of my challenges growing up was having so many conflicting impressions of who I was.
This constant shifting made it difficult to love someone who was perpetually changing.
However, if I recognize myself as the calm, still awareness, the pure reflection of God within, then this essence is always worthy of love.
See if you can take a moment right now to write down everything you love about yourself.
It’s not a good-versus-bad list.
It’s about acknowledging all your attributes, those you’re working on developing, and areas where you might show yourself compassion.
Self-Compassion: The Gentle Touch of Self-Love
Self-compassion is a crucial aspect of self-love.
It’s okay to make mistakes and experience setbacks. We all stumble and struggle.
But self-criticism is the worst thing you can do to yourself.
Self-love is truly self-compassion.
You must forgive yourself, because no one else can do it for you.
Self-love also involves respecting yourself, having a sense of dignity, and recognizing your core values and boundaries.
These boundaries prevent others, or even your own thoughts, from diminishing your self worth.
A Journey of Self-Discovery: Unveiling the Depths Within
Self-love is a vast and endless subject, and this article is just a starting point.
But I hope you grasped the wisdom that you are worthy of love, worthy of receiving the highest form of love and compassion: the love of your own soul.
Because at the end of the day, we are much deeper than these human bodies we inhabit.
Now is the time to explore that depth.
What lies beyond the mind and body? How do we access it, and more importantly, how do we travel into the depths of our being to discover who we truly are?
When you embark on this journey, you’ll find the one who truly needs your love: your own self.
