Respect

It’s respect. Respect is the key

to self-care. At the times when my mind

is angry at myself, it loses the respect

for the divinity within me. The woman

in the bubble. The times when I am most happy,

the most forgiving, accepting, slow, joyful,

are the times when I have respect for my body, my soul, and my mind.

I give them all space and make sure

I’m taking care of them and have the intention

of doing everything I can for each one of them.

I know that they are not perfect, but they are

working their hardest, for me,

every single day. And it’s when there are thoughts in my brain

that have been put in there by society

that have told me that I should have no respect for myself

or that my body is not worth anything

or it’s only worth something if it’s this or that,

that lead me to disrespect my mind and body, and have led me

to disrespect my many souls for years.

When I should have been respecting myself just as I am,

and just as we are. And when I do that now,

when I silence my mind and let go of the thoughts of disrespect,

and I forgive myself, that’s where

the real work happens. That’s when

real joy is felt. I found this out

while blowing out a dandelion,

asking and wishing that I would give myself

more forgiveness, acceptance,

and the word “respect” just came out.

And I felt at that moment that respect was exactly what I was missing.

That day, I was having bad thoughts, not respecting my mind

and the way it was going. All of the mini disrespects

create one lifestyle of suffering. Just as

all of the many respects that you can give yourself

create a lifestyle of joy. Every time I have a fantasy

about me playing an instrument, I am

disrespecting the person I am now

who doesn’t know how to play that instrument.

Every time I look at myself in the mirror and tell myself

that I should look a different way, I’m disrespecting the person

that I am now who is perfectly healthy and looks stunning.

We have to intentionally stay in a joyful and peaceful state of mind so that

we can respect ourselves enough

so that we can enjoy life.