A Daughter’s Valentine Memories
My father passed away 10 years ago. Although most of my childhood memories are unpleasant, there are a few good ones that warm my heart.
I had more in common with my father, than my mother. I inherited his fun loving entrepreneurial spirit.
Every Valentine’s Day, my father would give each of us girls a box of chocolate. When I married and left home, I would find a box of chocolates on my front door step. I didn’t realize how much I missed those boxes of chocolates.
My parents did their best with their current level of awareness and compared to my mother’s childhood, I guess mine was much better. Love came with conditions.
I forgave them and live this amazing, incredible life. It took many years and lots of work to finally find this happiness and inner peace.
I learned to give myself the unconditional love I didn’t receive growing up. I learned to love myself totally… faults and all… embracing my true ME… my Magical Essence™.
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of romance and love.
Oscar Wilde said "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."
Begin your lifelong romance with yourself by following these tips:
- Consider your own feelings. Your emotions are at least as important as everyone else’s. So, if you’re uncomfortable, act on that information. Take your own feelings into account in your everyday life and the decisions you make.
- Take care of your emotional needs. Self-respect is apparent through the things you do to make yourself comfortable, content, and happy. If a relationship constantly makes you feel emotionally upset or out of balance, perhaps it’s time to do something about it. You are the only person you can be absolutely sure will be there to take care of yourself emotionally.
- Acknowledge to yourself that you deserve respectful treatment. This is as simple as it gets: because you’re a human being, you deserve to be treated with fundamental human courtesies, including respect. Recognize your own value.
- Avoid allowing anyone to treat you disrespectfully. Be clear that you expect to be treated with kindness and care, whether you’re interacting with a co-worker, partner, or your child.
- Sometimes, you might think you’re giving someone a break by not insisting on being treated well. However, when you allow others to treat you poorly, you’re slacking on your own self-care and enabling them to practice negative interpersonal habits as well.
- Treat others with respect. In order to treat others with respect, you need to have a clear idea about how to act in respectful ways. Then, you can turn those same responses toward yourself. Make showing respect a way of life.
Which of these tips will you do? Pick the one that really resonates with you and start making it a part of your life.
What other ways can you show yourself unconditional love? Share your thoughts below.
