Last Sunday we had the great honour of hosting our teacher Anand Mehrotra in Avalon for an incredibly powerful workshop exploring ‘Self Love’.
For those of you who missed it, we’ll try to distil some of the wisdom from the day.
The practice of self-love looks nothing like narcissism. It has nothing to do with posing for ‘selfies’ on instagram, talking of self-love, all the while looking for outward validation through compliments or ‘likes’.
In order to truly experience self-love we must first discover our true Self.
Through practices such as meditation, we begin to identify with ourselves beyond the ego. More and more we see ourselves as being part of the indivisible oneness of life.
As all life is an experience in your consciousness, all love is self-love.
The ultimate experience of love is not in receiving love but in giving love. It is not in being loved but in loving that we ultimately feel love.
Loving is an incredible art. It’s the highest practice.
Compassion and loving-kindness are profoundly powerful. Studies have shown the practice of ‘loving kindness’ to be highly effective in helping people overcome depression.
Realise that when we speak we are not merely describing we are actually creating. Communicate with the intention to uplift and love. When we choose our words wisely, they begin to have the power to create love.
Taking risks is a powerful act of self-love. To be true to ourselves and allow ourselves to be fully seen is a great risk. But the risk of staying the same is even greater. Something begins to die inside of us. At the final breath, no one has ever said, ‘I’m so glad I played it safe, ignored the intuitive whispers of my heart and kept all my dreams a secret’. No one!
We must learn to forgive ourselves – constantly. We will make mistakes. We will find ourselves trapped in negative thoughts. We will be triggered and act in a less than compassionate and loving ways. We have to give ourselves permission to make mistakes and forgive ourselves fully. None of our actions or past wrong doings make us unworthy of love.
One of the greatest practices of self-love is to not take ourselves so seriously. Drop the illusion of control and learn to surrender to the flow of life. As Anadji said:
“We are floating around in a universe that stretches out to infinity in all directions and somehow Hydrogen and Helium are sipping a Macchiato… why?”
We are alive right now and no one can explain it. It is a verifiable fact that there is a greater intelligence behind life. It is not logical or reasonable to suggest this is all an accident. When we truly allow ourselves to experience the unfathomable mystery of life, we have no choice but to surrender to this intelligence and a space naturally opens for a great love to flow through us.
With (self) Love
Marcus & Cass
