thich naht hahn | Sargam Mishra

The easiest way to practice spirituality in every day life is to love yourself. SELF LOVE is the new Prayer, a new Mantra , a new Meditation ”

When I was in my 2nd grade that is the time I remember I used to have so much fun looking myself in the mirror I could just be standing and looking my self for hours, making different hair styles, looking at my smile and making lots of faces 🙂 I also loved crying in front of the mirror and would smile seeing how I looked so beautiful even when I cried 😉

I was my own personal favorite 🙂 and always treated myself special but somehow it was hard for my friends to understand this act of self love, and they thought I was not humble. Gradually I learned that it was not good to tell people if you were good at anything upright as it was considered as being proud or boastful. I saw my parents rarely speaking about our accomplishments in front of us as they feared we would be flying on clouds of pride. Appreciation was rare and if some family/ friends complimented we would deflect the appreciation or shy away.

As I grew up I lost touch with the “self love” aspect and gradually it manifested as a self negating internal conversation of “I am not as good as xyz, her hair was better than mine, her grades are better, she sings better than me”. This constant negative self talk resulted in weight gain, dull complexion and poor self image. I started meeting people who reassured I am not so good and need to really work on my self physically and emotionally.

Even in my relationship I had tough time proving my worth 😦 but with time gradually I realized it was nothing to do with others but it was a reflection of my own thoughts and my own poor self image. In life we are all faced with tough situations testing times and if you instead of feeling victim of the external situations, you are able to look within and introspect you will understand how these people and situations are only a reflection . Thanks to my calling of Pranic Healing that helped me restore my faith in me 🙂 it made me believe I AM SPECIAL !!

From Buddha to the Hollywood actor Johny Depp has spoken about how important it is to love your self. A person who cannot love himself or inflicts himself/herself of pain is responsible for inflicting pain to others. If you love yourself you will understand and appreciate the individuality of others ; you will be able to respect and appreciate others with an open heart.

We live our life thinking our selves to be average and keep looking for some secret ingredient to make us special without realizing that the secret ingredient was always with us 🙂

Self Love helps us connect with our own self and trust me when I write this I write out of experience , the first time I stood in front of the mirror dropping all judgement about me and looked into my eyes there was so much I wanted to say to my self. There was so much love , so much acceptance I had deprived myself of. I had feared been alone by myself and I was just craving for someone else to love me, approve me, compliment me. After a couple of minutes there was this knowing that I was not just what I could see in the mirror I was so much more and it was a big revelation. I just silently promised I will again bring back that child in me. I am Special and I did not need an assurance or approval for thinking this.

I know most of us have been in situations where we do not have time for ourselves, we are too busy in caring and loving others waiting for them to love us but if we continue this for a long time we will become emotionally bankrupt. Self Love is the way to maintain your bank balance of love.

Some quick questions to check your Self Love Quotient

1. Can you take up compliments with gratitude without deflecting them? Yes

2. Do you feel people who speak about their accomplishments are boasting? No

3.Can you spend time with yourself alone? Yes

4.Is your conversation with self something negative (comparative/self hating/fault finding)?? No

5.Can you see your self in the mirror and smile n feel happy or you feel sad? Yes

If your answers are opposite to what are written then you need to work on your Self Love quotient 🙂

Tips to Cultivate Self Love

1. Pay Gratitude (maintain a gratitude journal for the little things you like about yourself)

2. Smile whenever you see the mirror n give a mental compliment

3.Go out alone and treat yourself

4.Pursue a passion

5. Develop a positive self talk habit

In the world where we teach humility and encourage to keep our happiness on least priority ; Self Love is the only savior – Love Sargam

“The Best Gift You Can Give Someone Is Your Time”

To love, is above all to be there for your loved ones mindfully. But being there is not an easy thing,If you are not there, how can you love? Being a part of someone’s life is a great privilege which has its own responsibilities. Most of the time we take it for granted because gradually with time we are assured that they will always be there. So we miss our anniversary, our son’s parent teacher meeting, our daughter’s performance at the annual day some parents don’t even remember their kid’s date of birth. Can you relate to any of this?? If yes it is time you pay attention to your relationships and all the wonderful people who are sharing their life with you.

The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is your true presence. What must we do to really be there? Those who have practiced meditation know that meditating is above all being present: to yourself, to those you love, to life.

Here is a very simple practice of mindful breathing: “Breathing–I know that I am breathing in; breathing–I know that I am breathing out.” If you do that with a little concentration, then you will be able to really be there, because in our daily life our mind and our body are rarely together. Our body might be there, but our mind is somewhere else. Maybe you are lost in regrets about the past, maybe in worries about the future, or else you are preoccupied with your plans, with anger or with jealousy. And so your mind is not really there with your body.

Between the mind and the body, there is something that can serve as a bridge. The moment you begin to practice mindful breathing, your body and your mind begin to come together with one another. It takes only 10 to 20 seconds to accomplish this miracle called oneness of body and mind. With mindful breathing, you can bring body and mind together in the present moment, and every one of us can do it, even a child.

Practice of simple words can help in understanding the true meaning of being there.

“Dear one, I am here for you.” Perhaps this evening you will try for a few minutes to practice mindful breathing in order to bring your body and mind together. You will approach the person you love and with this mindfulness, with this concentration, you will look into his or her eyes, and you will begin to utter this formula: “Dear one, I am really here for you.” You must say that with your body and with your mind at the same time, and then you will see the transformation.

Do you have enough time to love? Can you make sure that in your everyday life you have a little time to love? We do not have much time together; we are too busy. In the morning while eating breakfast, we do not look at the person we love, we do not have enough time for it. We eat very quickly while thinking about other things, and sometimes we even hold a newspaper that hides the face of the person we love. In the evening when we come home, we are too tired to be able to look at the person we love.

We must bring about a revolution in our way of living our everyday lives, because our happiness, our lives, are within ourselves.

Lots of Love Sargam

Reference :http://www.beliefnet.com/Love-Family/Relationships/Holidays/Valentines-Day/Do-You-Have-Time-To-Love