Love is A Practice… Let’s Start Practicing with Ourselves

 In Self Love, Wisdom Blog
With the 12 days of Christmas over…
and 360 days ahead of us in 2010
How About Joining ME for a 40-Day Self-love Practice…


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40 days of falling more madly in love with ourselves! 

Why a Self Love Practice?
Over the holiday break, I did a lot of thinking about self love. I know, what? Why would I be thinking about that? Well for many reasons, I teach it, I write it and so I decided to take a pause to examine why I was having such a hard time doing it. While I have reached many self- love milestones… I know who I am, I live a life that is absolutely congruent with that person, I do what I love almost everyday, my relationship with my partner is a true partnership full of unconditional love, and actually every relationship I have is full of love, not a toxic one in sight! But, the milestone of taking care of myself… of being nice, supportive and loving to myself… of feeling like I was truly enough just because I was ME, regardless of what I achieved, well, that milestone has continued to elude me. I’ve made progress over the years, yes, but the fact is that in 2009 my achievement junkie was still running a big part of my life. And let’s face it, any motivation, thought, feeling or emotion that comes from that part of me, or of you, is not loving!So as I looked to 2010 I had an aha that went something like this… “Most of us get that we ‘should’ take care of ourselves… that we ought to be nice to ourselves and see what we’ve accomplished not what we haven’t… that it would be a good idea to stop driving ourselves like energizer bunnies gone mad… and that we do need to fill ourselves up before we can give to anyone else. We know these things in our heads, yet when it comes to making the choices that lead to self-love vs. exhaustion, overwhelm and feeling less than perfect, we usually fail. It’s like we are trained to take the guilty, sacrificial, give-it-all-to-everyone else path and no matter what we do we can’t stop the self-love dumpster patterns and habits.”

And that’s when it struck me! The ‘how to’ really, truly accept and love who I am right now and to take really frickin good care of her! I’ve learned from every teacher I have studied with that having a daily practice can change your life. I’ve had one for 8 years, and so I know they are telling the truth. So I thought to myself, why not start a self-love practice, do it every day and change my life some more!  And then i thought, why not invite all of you to do it with me! After all, there is power in numbers and think about the power of thousands of us doing a self-love practice for the next 40-days!


Why 40-days?

When I told my friend Debra about the 40 day self-love practice, she asked me, “Why 40 days?” I love Debra, she always asks me great questions! Here are the answers:

  • Many yogic traditions believe that if you can do something for 40 days you can change your life, shift major pattern and create new ones. Yogis are smart.
  • Many metaphysical traditions say the number 40 means “enough”.  40 days in the desert kind of thing. These people, also smart.
  • People who study the brain say that if you can do something for 40 days you can create new habits.  Ok, they are brain scientists, they have to be smart!

All good reasons, tried and true, and then add one more, the big kahuna in my mind…

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WE ARE 40 DAYS AWAY FROM THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SELF-LOVE!
FEBRUARY 13TH, 2010 is the official day of self-love, so what better day to celebrate our 40-day victory than with a big self-love celebration. I’m throwing a big one in San Francisco, there’s another one in Chicago and Orlando, and really anyone can throw one (i’ve put all the details in the Madly in Love with ME Kit which you can download for free).

What do you have to do to get started?
Here are your first two steps:

  1. Say YES! to making self-love a practice for the next 40 days. Go ahead, say it out loud, “Self love is my practice for the next 40 days!”
  2. Action #1: Starting tomorrow morning, as soon as you wake up or at least within the first hour, ask yourself “What do I need to do today to take care of ME?” Out loud. Listen. Really listen. Whatever the answer is, say that out loud. And make it happen, It’s not optional it’s a priority, because you are a priority.

Today, when I asked the question, the answer I got was  “Spend time with candles lit dreaming up your next year.” So I felt into the day, and it felt like night would be good. And so I took the time this evening to do that, before I finished this blog to you! Result? I’ve been taken care of!

More love…

Over the next 40 days, I will be blogging every day about my adventure and giving you tips and tools for your own 40-day self love adventure. I’ll be facebooking and tweeting and sharing inspiration, including the Video Dare contest and Self-Love Manifesta contest we are running on http://madlyinlovewithme.com.  Check it out! We are radiating self love all over the place for the next 40 days …. make sure to come on in and soak some up!

 

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Showing 20 comments
  • Carrie

    This is a fantastic idea!!!

  • Christine, This is FABULOUS! Practice makes perfect. Perfect love!!

  • Kristine McIntyre

    I love this and am so excited to practice it daily !!

  • Miss Lone

    Love it! This 40-day thing. And the simplicity of the question to self: what do I need today to take really good care of me. I’m in!

  • Rhonda

    I love the idea of practicing self love for 40 days followed by celebrating the International Day of Self Love. This Feb. 14th will be a special day for me; it marks the anniversity of ending a bad relationship. It’s been a hard year but a good one. February 13th will end the year with cause for celebrating the event. Your book, this website, yoga, and discovering myself has been priceless! I can’t wait to see what happens in the next 40 days!

  • Lillian

    I’m on board

  • Elizabeth

    This looks good, Christine. I’m in, and I’ve sent it to a friend as well. (I’m in France and my friend is in UK).

  • Teri Williams

    WOO HOO!! Am totally on this self love train! Thanks for putting this out there! February 14 is the one year anniversary of my “first ever” talk on self love. What a great way to end my year, 40 days of love.
    Bliss out!
    Teri Williams
    Bliss Ambassador and
    Chief Visionary Officer
    The Bliss Network
    TheBlissNetwork.com

  • Tracy Morrow

    What an incredible idea Christine! I truly admire the initiative you are taking to help women realize that honoring themselves helps honor their lives and world around them. I’ll be following along for the next 40 Days.

  • Chris Tessnear

    sign me up….I could use some self love in my life

  • sherry white

    I am in!!Thanks so much for a wonderful idea!! (((HUGS)))

  • Kathleen

    I love this concept. I have been learing to love myself for some time now. It is not always easy, but practicing every day and committing to it will be an exciting adventure. Thank you

  • nancy sullivan

    Thanks Christine. I am taking this self love challenge.

  • Martha Harward

    I absolutely LOVE the way you think, Christine! It is very powerful – love-ing yourself!!!

  • Terresa Roden

    Count me in. This is right in line with some of the things I have been working through with my life coach. Thanks for thinking of us.

  • SelfHelpGoddess

    I’m in!!! 🙂 Love your book, btw, Christine… Here’s to a great 2010!

  • Nicole Scott

    Hey Christine, I’m up for the challenge – let’s ROCK and ROLL!!!

  • Mary

    Yes! Count me in Christine.I am 68 yrs old and it’s time for me at long last thankyou!

  • Christine Arylo

    Mary – rock on and thank you for inspiring us to remember that its never too late to say I DO to falling in love with ourselves!

  • Christine Arylo

    Nancy … welcome to the self love challenge – those who dare to love themselves will never regret that choice!

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