Loving

Confession: I REALLY LIKE PANCAKES! The other day I decided to make paleo pancakes, designing heart-shaped flapjacks at the stove when hubby walked by raving about how good it smelled...he wanted one. My fruit and veggie lover wanted pancakes?!? There I was practicing "self-care" making breakfast and it drew my husband's attention. No he's wild about those pancakes...and I experienced loving others while taking good care of me. Are you good at loving others AS you love yourself?




Occasionally I splurge and get my nails done. To be honest, sometimes I feel bad for spending money on myself knowing there are hungry people within driving distance. Then I see I'm blessing my nail lady and her hungry family with a client (me) and a tip. I realize I'm still learning to balance between loving others as I love myself. While giving to people and working to help others often refreshes me, I think some of us even "hide" in giving or work mode and miss receiving or rest.


It's so easy to get sidetracked with all the bad / sad news in life. Local and world news can be overwhelming at times and if we're not aware, we can easily neglect to find and celebrate the good. Cultivating a grateful heart and a hopeful perspective helps us see the good in each day. Whether the good news is that we managed to fit in a workout today or we had a meal with someone special or someone picked up groceries for us...or just to have the breath in our lungs...whatever the good is...it's worth finding and celebrating in a meaningful way. I'm not saying I ignore the bad or the sad, but I make time to focus on the "wins".

Sometimes receiving love is kind of scary...you have to open up! It can also be a challenge to give love or put forth an effort if you don't know how it will be received. It's awesome that we get to meet many, many people to give love to along this life journey. I remember being nervous about giving food and clothing to the homeless when I started going to the streets. Once I chose to step out of my comfort zone, my love was received with open arms. However, if we give love or work hard on something and it's not well received or it's not understood, that can be challenging. Have you ever tried to help someone you cared for dearly and they just didn't see your love or maybe even didn't want it? Maybe we didn't show love in their "love language" so they could hear it or maybe they were just not ready for our love. Whatever the situation, there will be other ways to show love as we grow in love too. So let's not give up on loving others as we remember to love ourselves too. 😍

*FYI: I prefer 13-free (or better) nail polish...it's less toxic (just sharing some love)!