When you work on learning to love yourself, it is often said that you should see yourself as the little child you once were and give yourself the love and care that you would give to a small helpless child. I have worked a lot with taking care of my inner child, to see her and give her everything she needed that she never got. In the last year after hard work through among other things, meditation and listening deeply inwardly, I have really understood my value and started to see myself with loving and encouraging eyes, instead of judging and condescending. But it wasn't until I gave birth to my daughter that the realization of how we all deserve unconditional love was fully ingrained in me on every level.
I walked around carrying my newborn baby and looked at myself in the mirror. In the reflection I suddenly saw her face in mine, it was like I was her and she was me, and that's when it hit me. As worthy of care and love as she is, so am I. As small and helpless as she is, in need of guidance and security, so was I. No matter how much she screams and how long she keeps me awake, she is worth it all and deserves it all, and so am I.
Life may have made us believe otherwise, the little person we once were, in such great need of being cared for and filled with what builds us up, can also so easily be broken down and filled with things that make us afraid to bloom. When I saw myself in my daughter, I understood to my core how deep down I am still that tiny little child I once was, who no matter how the world has shaped her, she is worthy of everything. Now it's my job to take care of myself the same way I take care of my daughter, to look at myself the same way I look at her, with love, empathy and curiosity. I may not get it right every time, but both she and I deserve to be seen and accepted for all that we are. And so are you, and so are all of us.
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