15 Aug Trending: Worth Loving
I’ve begun a new “thing” in my brain. If my brain were Facebook, there would now be a box that said:
“Trending: So worth loving.”
Now this is not a slogan I came up with myself. It is actually a company; that’s their logo, motto, mantra, brand.
“So Worth Loving”
It’s beautiful. Their business is beautiful and their message is uniquely amazing: “A lifestyle brand that promotes self-love,” in their words.
http://blog.soworthloving.com <– That’s their site. You should go there.
It all began the other night when I was challenging myself to run further than I normally do. I have a lot of dialogue with myself on a regular basis and it is only amped up when I run.
I realized that the thoughts in my head were not at all motivating me to continue putting on foot in front of the other.
“Oh man, she’s a runner (unlike me).”
“I wish my arms looked like that.”
“I bet I can run further than him.”
“That dog looks like it wants to have me for dinner.”
“Maybe I need to do what she’s doing to look like that.”
“Do I look like that?”
“I wonder what he’s thinking?”
“Oh, they totally heard me breathing and now they think I’m fat.”
Yes, world, welcome to the ridiculous things that run around in my mind. I am prepared to take full responsibility for them.
Just not today.
So, as I was completely spacing from the task at handing–that is, running–I was also either building myself up or down–mostly down–based on people passing by. OR, even worse, trying to motivate myself from my core of fear and insecurity by putting others down! Pretty unfortunate as it shows the depth of my humanness and poor inability, in that moment, to self-motivate in any healthy way whatsoever.
As I was listening to one of my new jams–not one of my top three running songs currently (see previous post)–“Lovely” by Sara Haze which says, “I am lovely just the way that I am,” I realized this is true. I am lovely. And so is every person passing by me. So I began to remind myself that he was so worth loving and that she was so worth loving…and her and her and them and him…etc.
Then I no longer had the ability to compare or contrast or worry about others thinking about me or hungry dogs. I could simply focus on running and know that myself and everyone else are so worth loving.
There has been research done on staying present, some might say practicing mindfulness, even while exercising. Research shows that when you don’t zone out and you focus on what you are doing, despite the pain, you are actually able to lift more and perform better. But that’s a conversation for another day. Just a thought.
These same words ring in my head when I hear some people speak of Robin Williams’ death as well.
Brené Brown blogged about responding to a stranger’s unimaginable pain and how we have two choices: fear or courage.
She writes that when we respond from fear we choose to allow ourselves to believe that we are different from the desperate pain of another, denying our humanness, and responding with judgment and self-righteousness.
She says, “It’s difficult to respond to the tragedies of strangers – even those we think we know – because we will never have access to the whole truth. In the absence of information, we make up stories, stories that often turn out to be our own biographies, not theirs.
Our choices have consequences: They make the world a more dangerous place or they cultivate peace. Fear and judgment deepen our collective wounds. That rare mix of courage and compassion is the balm that brings global healing.”
I spent the entire day in swarms of people in Time Square today. (It was both amazing and terrifying in case you were wondering.) I so saw the whole gamut of the human spectrum.
I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if we all chose courage. If we all decided to believe that every single person around us is unequivocally and unimaginably “so worth loving”–no matter what.
And even more than that…what if we believed that about ourselves?
By products of comparison, judgment, envy, self-righteousness are often isolation, depression, and self-loathing. Love is free. There is no taxing toll on your body or spirit for love. In fact, it gives! Love gives peace, rest, contentment, lightness, confidence, happiness, security, and joy.
So use your brain space for good today.
You are so awesome. And worthy of love.
Smile.
When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.
{Gabrielle Berstein}
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