Journal of Sacred Work

…why not consider/ a lasting truce with yourself and God.
-Hafiz (left, early 14th century)

   And while you’re at it, why not declare a lasting truce between you and yourself? Is the world in which you live served by you beating up on yourself?
   Our presence is our most valuable asset. We may say that it is the skills we have to offer, the money we make, or the children we bear. And these things may also be true. But it turns out that it is our presence that matters most to others….

   What matters about people we have known? Invariably, our feelings about
others have everything to do with how that person made us feel. The
impression we make on others is created by everything from the way we
enter a room to how we treat the person before us. All of this is a
great argument for the importance of grace and kindness.
   But how do we become more graceful and kind? Our level of grace depends a lot on how we encounter ourselves.
   What we think of ourselves affects our self-confidence and therefore our presence to others. What if, for example, you have a low opinion of yourself? If you dislike yourself, it can be very difficult for you to be genuinely loving to others. Those who experience self-hatred experience chronic problems with balance in life.
   The message here is simple to say and challenging to live. We need to improve our self encounters. We need to treat ourselves with kindness, grace and compassion in part so that we can than give this same quality to others.
   Love’s energy needs a gracious vehicle through which to travel. If we can look within an honor the divine spirit that lives there, we have the chance to fan that spark in the flame of full Love.
   There are many spiritual practices that can facilitate this self-love. But none of them will work until we first accept the fact that we are lovable, precious beings. It’s hard for the light of Love to travel through an individual who is locked in self-disdain.
   So open your heart to yourself. And let Love move through you.

-Erie Chapman