“Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults.”

-- Les Brown

We’re often told in the offices of our counselors, therapists and social workers that we must ‘release our baggage’ if we are to heal. There is this perception that this baggage is ‘bad,’ so therefore we must rid ourselves of it. Something about that concept had been troubling me until recently when I experienced one of those wonderful moments of epiphany. Releasing this baggage really isn’t the issue. The issue is the judgement I place upon this baggage. I realized by viewing my baggage as ‘bad’ and something to ‘get rid of,’ I had been judging myself. Judging blocks acceptance. So if I am to heal, I need to accept myself as I am. I need to take the time to find out what these wounds have to say. I believe at the heart of these wounds are unmet needs.

Rather than view my baggage in such a negative light, I am instead learning how to embrace it, much in the same way I would embrace a friend in pain and in need of comfort. It is, after all, a part of who I am today.

~ Vicki Grover

“I understand that my love for myself is the greatest possession I will ever have. Love for myself comes into being only when I accept and experience my feelings as they are, at this very moment, both pleasant and unpleasant. As I welcome my painful self, it heals. Loving myself provides the power for transformation.”

-- John Ruskan