Self Love and Compassion in a Country Divided | Self Love Resources
Rockstar Awesomesauce

Compassion and Self Love in a Divided Country

I recently was given the opportunity to travel to New York City for a conference. My friend and I decided to fly in a day early to take in all the city has to offer. Visiting NYC was on my bucket list and I am very grateful of the timing of my visit. The election had ended a week earlier and protests were erupting all over the city. I was apprehensive, but never back down from a challenge (being the rockstar that I am). Traveling to a big city…the largest city in the US…well if I’m honest, it did make me a little nervous.

I grew up in the suburbs of a small coastal city in Texas. Population 200,000-250,000, and the suburban area I grew up in…is even smaller. Traveling was a privilege in our family, but by the time I was 16 years old I had 10+ stamps on my passport and visited handful of states in the US. I was hooked. I love to travel! I grow and learn from each destination and the local communities within them.

Typically, when I travel I am a Planner. I like to have a rough plan of stops I would like to see and then if a surprise arises, cool. This trip was different. I totally surrendered and wandered through NYC from the 911 Memorial to Central Park with my friend. Experiencing the city in this way, we  were fortunate to get a feel for the people and the heartbeat of the city. The people of NYC were the biggest surprise to me- they are welcoming, friendly, and courteous. People of all backgrounds, income status, and careers, were so nice. I had heard that the people of New York are rude and in a hurry, but this was just not my experience.

NYC taught me that we can come together as a Nation. I saw that no matter the color of our skin, our religious background, or income status we can live, work, and respect each other. We can have different political views, and discussions about our political views. As long as we respect and speak from our hearts, I believe we can come together.

NYC is a melting pot of this beautiful world as is our nation. Instead of yelling at each other or dismissing each other’s views, we can instead hold everyone in this beautiful nation and its people in our hearts. We can pray for peace and safety for everyone- democrats, republicans, independent political officials, and police officers. We can be compassionate with everyone.

Giving people the opportunity to be heard and really listening to them is the best way to provide compassion. Then, above all, is to be compassionate with ourselves. When we really listen to ourselves and accept our feelings without judgment, self love becomes easy. Compassion is the medicine for ourselves and others. The election, like every experience in the “Earth school,” offers us opportunities to give and receive this medicine. Giddy up!

Body Self Love

Self Love and Our Body Image

Do you love it when you hear someone “spiritual” say in a peaceful calm way with a smile at you, “You need to love your body?” I don’t. I know it’s true ultimately, but how exactly do I love my body when everything around me tells me I have to look like someone else? It seems like a foreign concept really.

I am around 5’2” and do not look like a magazine cover. I will never look like a runway model. That doesn’t mean I am not beautiful in my own way though. Anyway… back to the subject at hand…

Loving our bodies… to be honest this is still a challenge for me. I work on this daily. In many regards I get my Rockstar love on regular,  but loving and accepting my body? This one is a tough one….

Like this morning when I had a rare moment of quiet in my home and decided to do some yoga. Everything was going great. I was feeling quite warrior-like and strong–until I came to a pose called the shoulder stand. Essentially this is where we lift our legs up pointing towards the sky while supporting our back and tucking our chin into our neck, like this:

Self Love Body Yoga Shoulder Stand | Self Love Rockstar

My shirt slowly rolled up and then there I was, looking at my belly. I should first preface this by saying my three awesome Rockstar daughters absolutely LOVE my squishy post-baby belly. I sooo wish I felt the same. I try to look at it and feel appreciative for the home it provided 3 times to my children. Even my husband loves my body (miraculously and thankfully). But ME…loving the odd shaped squishy belly? This one is a tough one.

I’m working on it. I am not perfect. I want to love every inch of me, but self love and self acceptance is a journey. Sometimes it feels like a battle I do not always win. I still get up the next morning and start again. And that’s the point Rockstars- we focus on the incremental steps of change and growth. It’s not necessary to instantly wake up and love yourself (although that would be cool). What’s important is loving yourself a little bit more each day.

That’s about as real as I can get with you all Now I’m going to practice what I preach and focus on loving myself a little bit more today. One of the great resources that help me is using EFT (the Emotional Freedom Technique). For a great free resource on YouTube on how to love yourself a bit more, try this awesome short EFT exercise HERE and let us know how it works for you. You’ve got this!

Self Love Learning | Self LoAve Rockstar
Self Love Learning

Tony Robbins is Not My Guru But…

He IS an amazing teacher and resource for growth, self love tools, and transformation.

Ironically my first venture back into work after being a stay at home mom for 10 years was as an outbound sales rep for one of his partner companies.

At that time I had never been to a love Tony Robbins event and quite frankly was intimidated by even the thought of it. My impression at the time was that he would push me to do things I wasn’t ready to do. His strength on tapes (yes tapes) was super intense for me at the time. He actually describes breakthroughs as being that moment where we decide “enough is enough.” I wasn’t ready for major change until several years later. I was invited to an “Unleash the Power Within” event as a platinum guest, which meant I got to sit in the front section. What I experienced was completely different than what I expected.

Tony’s sincerity and caring comes through right off the bat. It is obvious he absolutely loves what he does. He clearly wants to help people get past their own limitations and into self love, acceptance and living the most outstanding life we can live.

His methods are nontraditional, helping participants shift old patterns and lock in new ones. Also, he plays full out, teaching for long 14-16 hour days in what he calls “total immersion” learning for the best results. By the end of UPW I felt incredible– more alive, resolved, excited for life, self loving, and with a renewed sense of purpose and elevated standard. I haven’t looked back since!

By far this seminar has been the most profound personal growth experience to date.. When I left the seminar I felt like a light switch had been turned on that had been dimmed for many years, and that I could dream again. If you feel this may be the right time for you to majorly transform your life, step into self love in a real way, and overall kick some major Rockstar ass, see which Tony Robbins event may be the right one for you. You will never look back. As one of the song states in the seminar “Life will never be the same.”

Body Self Love

How do Self Love Rockstars Meditate?

When I first heard about meditating, I truly did not think I could do it. I have a very active mind- always talking (to myself or whoever would listen) and thought I would feel too restless sitting still and “getting quiet.”

The first time I sat still for a few minutes and tried to “think of nothing, and empty my mind,” it lasted about a millisecond, and then I think I fell asleep. That was the only meditation experience I encountered for awhile.

Then several years later I learned some different meditation techniques that felt more “my style” for an active mind like myself. I’ll share these momentarily.

The first key item to point out is WHY would you self love rockstars would want to meditate? What is the purpose of it? Well, grasshopper glad you asked- here are a few great reasons to meditate:

  • First, nothing bad has ever come from meditating!
  • Second, learning to quiet the mind opens up a deeper level of communication with ourselves and our inner wisdom
  • Third, when it comes to self love, the best way to connect and send ourselves love is through meditation and being still
  • Fourth, meditation can help with addictions, stress, self destructive thoughts and behaviors, and much more
  • Fifth, as evolving beings, meditation helps you to grow at an accelerated pace
  • Sixth, one of the best ways to learn who you truly are (and then accept yourself) is through meditation
  • Seventh if you still need incentive, it will help you be a more relaxed, confident, happy person- and more fun to be around

Okay, now that we covered WHY all of us self love rockstars benefit from meditating, the next important question is which style best suits you? Here is an overview of a few kinds of meditation (keep in mind this is a huge topic so we’re mentioning a few of the most popular methods here). All meditations involve sitting up comfortably (or lying down) with eyes closed. Also keep in mind meditation can be for as short as 5 minutes or as long as you need. Here we go:

  1. Breath Meditation- Focus on your breath. Simply notice when you are inhaling and exhaling and concentrating solely on that. Another variation to this is counting (up to any number for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) while inhaling, and then either holding for a few counts or exhaling and count in descending order (for example 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

  2. Love and Gratitude Meditation- Place your hand over your heart and imagine light/love flowing in through your heart in and out circulating through your body and healing with love as it goes. Focus on a handful of items you feel gratitude about. Do not overthink this- whatever comes to your mind works (when all else fails think of nature or a tree)

  3. Spiritual Meditation- Similar to Meditation #2, you can also place your hand over your heart during this meditation. As you inhale repeat whatever your name for God is (preferably something with an “Ah” sound if possible as it opens the heart) or simply breath in “Ah” and imagine a white light coming from the top of your head flowing all the way through you healing everything and down through your toes into the earth. Then repeat

  4. Sound Meditation- Select any song you like (can be instrumental or a favorite song with lyrics you love) and put on repeat. As you listen to the song over and over you will automatically enter into a state of meditation and calm..

  5. Guided Meditations- For you lazy rockstars! Just kidding, we love these guided meditations. Tons of free resources are available via YouTube, or you can also purchase one you like through iTunes. Here are some of our favorites:

One of the biggest keys to meditating is that there is no “right way” to do it. Also there is no goal except to relax. If you fall asleep, that is okay. If emotions come up, that is okay, let them come.. If you feel bored, that is okay. It is ALL okay and part of the self love and acceptance journey we are on. Once you give meditation a chance, you will want to incorporate it into your daily ritual, and you will see that even only 5 minutes a day makes a big difference! The challenge for this week self love rockstars…. Is to meditate (or try a new style of meditating if you already have a practice) and share your favorites (or questions)! Giddy up rockstars!!!

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