Unconditional love means that we love others how we would want to be loved, but so often we unconsciously place expectations, limits or conditions, as you might call them, on how we love others, including ourselves.

Unconditional love means to love without condition, without saying “I love you, but only when you fit inside this box of expectations I’ve created.”

Who or what in your life can you think of that you can say you love without those conditions?  Without relying on anything else?  Without putting them in a box? 

It can be a tough thing, because we are human, and when we get hurt by someone or even when our things get ruined by a pet or child, a part of us still wants to have restitution.

Even with an apology, ill feelings can sometimes still linger.  And apologies don’t even always happen.

But unconditional love says we forgive and keep loving EVEN THOUGH we may have been hurt.

It means we treat others how we would want to be treated. Not how we deserve to be treated, but how we WANT to be treated.

When you make mistakes, don’t you want someone to draw you in, wrap their arm or arms around you, hug you and tell you “it’s OK” and they “still love you?”

I hope you do!

Dogs often to do this. They forgive and love you no matter what. No matter if you scold them for chewing up your furniture or for dragging the garbage all of the the house, they still come to you and snuggle and cuddle with you. Without words, they tell you they love you.

You know who else does this?

Jesus.

He doesn’t judge you for your mistakes; he instead calls you toward him and wants to hear whats troubling you so he can love you and you can feel his supernatural peace.

But you know where we often fall short in this unconditional love?

With ourselves.

We forget to unconditionally love ourselves.

Or maybe it’s that we don’t know how to unconditionally love ourselves.

Believe it or not, that second one is likely the reason we don’t actually unconditionally love ourselves.

We don’t know how.

Your own expectations are much higher than anyone else’s of you, and that is what makes it hard to wade through the mess of guilt, shame and blame that you’ve likely taken on over the years.

Unconditional love towards yourself means forgiveness.  It means turning towards yourself and offering tenderness and nurturing–physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically–even we you think you don’t deserve it.  Even when you think you don’t have the time or energy to offer that to yourself.

Health, Harmony and Happiness Takeaway

You have to remove the expectations of yourself out of the box, examine it from all angles, and discover what you really need in place of that before you can truly love yourself unconditionally.

Resources:

Save your spot for {Self-} Love is in the Air Candlelight Yoga

Intention-setting Ritual Worksheet

To know where you are in your Energetic Rhythms Cycle, download the Daily Rhythms Tracker.

Join the Energetic Rhythms for Intentional Living community here.

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