LOVE yourself, it matters!

Love is what made us. Yes, God’s love for us is what made us. Isn’t it true? God had actually taken His time to create us in His image and likeness. He did not make us any other thing or even any other living creatures, but he made us HUMAN and He made other things for us to simply enjoy them. The wonderful nature and the best part is He did not even charge us for anything, including the power to our life, it is absolutely FREE – the OXYGEN and the BLOOD supply. How thoughtful, how beautiful and how caring.

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But what have we done with that wonderful creation of HIS? Our SELFs!

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Situations in life make us wonder many things.

Stages in life make us question our significance.

The status we associate our life with makes us determine our success.

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Silence, above all, the SILENCE and the STILLNESS of our mind makes us REALISE and understand many things in our life.

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Those situations and stages we go through in our lives are meant for a reason. They can either make us stronger or break us and cause us to doubt our existence. The people we meet in our lives indeed play a great role in making our journey a meaningful one. How about the status that we crave?

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I was and believe still am blessed with beauty! (Self-praise, ha-ha) Status = married?? I was rather quiet at home since my mom was very strict. As a child, a female-child I used to love getting dressed and staying pretty. As I grew into a young adult, I used to feel proud of the admiration I received for my pretty face (thanks to my mom). I loved to dress and that made me confident. But I must say that those eyes looking at me made me uncomfortable and shy as I was unsure how to acknowledge or address that. I was unsure if the " Oh, look at you, so pretty” feedback was real. Those looks made me uncomfortable, which indeed made me quiet, which made the rest think that I am just arrogant for my looks. Although that bothered me once, now as I age, I just care less about those little talks. There’s so much more in life than worrying about those passing comments.

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I remember sneaking out from uni and going to a mall one day and hearing a Revlon marketing person say to me,” Oh you have such lovely skin. Would you want to join our brand?” That shocked me that day. Not that I was shocked by my skin – but the only thing that came to my mind at that time was – What? I sneaked out okay – what if my mom comes to know! Note at 18 I was still sneaking out! (Some do in the 40s!) Not sure if I had taken her offer, would I be in any magazine now?

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The fear mainly, made me stay away from what I liked. I loved dancing and that too I used to sneak out to do! Now when I have the time to go dancing and learn dancing, my body just doesn’t give me the full freedom to do it. Having said this, for you younger souls out there, go ahead and do what you like. As long as you know your boundaries and it doesn’t harm you. Don’t wait or ignore what you like to do.

Parents, see what your children like doing and if they have a hobby they enjoy doing – dancing, listening to music, drawing or painting, it is not wrong. We don’t need to constantly keep focussing on our academics. Help the young ones develop those hobbies and you will definitely do them good.

We are created with a calling in life. Some choose to stay single, some fall in love (trap... oops) and some stay married.?Whichever path we have chosen to take, we are not wrong. All we need to do is be completely mindful of our choice, don’t fall into the trap of the judgemental society, but just live our life to the fullest. We can and MUST always love ourselves no matter what path we have chosen. It’s only when we love OURSELF then we can LOVE others freely. Being single is not wrong, there’s a lot one can do alone, but do the things which will build others and not break them. It’s the same about being married.

God has plans for ALL of us. We fall in love, get married and create a new family simply to grow the HUMANKIND which was God’s plan in the first place. But we must get married and STAY married with a purpose which is to build our family. If we are individualistic and we want to get married for our partner to follow suit, that’s not a family, that’s a contract, which we can end up breaching and dispersing scattered seeds which will grow into troubled individuals. Not all lives are the same, and not all marriages are the same. But to me, I hold God’s word by heart, I completely TRUST that no man can separate what God had put together. So, if you choose to be married, hold this mantra.

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Whatever you choose to do, do it with Self-love. Self-love is not being self-fish, but just loving yourself for your choices and seeing that love unfold beautifully. I am not an expert per se, but out of my experiences, I just want to share what I ought to see in others – HAPPINESS!

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As I approach the golden jubilee in years to come, I can only be thankful that I have chosen this path in my life and am blessed with a little happy family.

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I just wish for you, my friends:

?#Thank your creator for whom you are created to be – HUMANKIND is so special!

???#?Take your time to care for yourself – SELF-LOVE is much needed.

????# Tranquility practices lead to peace – MINDFULNESS is a superpower for our wellbeing.

?Love yourselves and unfold your fullest potential.