The feeling of self-love begins as a balm, soothing all of the previous moments of indecision, insecurity, and impossibilities that bit by bit slivered off pieces of your dreams, desires & wishes.

The feeling of loving oneself then expands itself and becomes an accelerant, like fuel being poured on a burning flame. Around you the world comes to life in so many ways…new forms of vibrancy, energy, and creative expression blending together, everywhere and all at once.

It streams a whole new version of Beautiful.

The way you see the world is altered and you feel a state of bliss. Days unfold seamlessly and joyfully as you express yourself and then replenish to the point where love spills over and oozes off of you in a way that others can feel it.

Unexpectedly, a feeling of being caught off guard sneaks up behind you and inserts itself as if a thorn in your side…. a prickly painful source of something unknown that refuses to be identified.

This uncomfortable, inner irritant begins to accumulate and weigh you down. The “unknown” surges before you now flickering and stinging you with a gnawing uncertainty and you grow weary once again.

Easy to misunderstand, old walls begin to re-emerge around you, threatening to separate you and love.

What may confuse you is the fact that this irritant is being drawn out of you. It is old. It is inner discord. It is all the unanswered why’s speaking in a foreign language, eager to be heard, causing alarm yet refusing to define a reason or a cure for such inner distress.

It would be so easy to recede behind the walls of protection, choosing to silently prepare a defense strategy against the nameless impending doom.

Or, you can choose to realize that unconditional love needs no words or explanations to soothe internal angst. It simply needs to course unrestricted through your body and then your mind as it comforts you from within.

And at last, when we experience giving and receiving love, to and from ourselves, “the why’s” cease to influence us and stop causing us to unwittingly shut off and close down, one unconscious thought at a time.

And we emerge as yet another iteration of ourselves, ever-growing, ever-expanding, ever-evolving, making our mark on the world in the ways that only we can.

This cycle of love repeats itself over and over again.

Depicted as a flower, the bud emerges, gloriously uncurling itself, seeking the soothing sun, fueling the blossoms until they surge forward and burst with beauty. Then, slowly they recoil, fade, and wither away as another bud prepares to emerge.

Depicted as a soul, loving ourselves is our soothing balm, which becomes the fuel illuminating a new brilliance within and all around us for a period of time, until that expression withers and we recoil behind the walls of a tightly wound flower bud until we are ready to eagerly seek light and life as we burst forth anew.

Where are you in this cycle of continually emerging life?

Are you emerging anew as you uncurl yourself and seek the sun?
Are you blossoming and bursting with beauty?
Are some of your blooms receding, fading, and preparing to re-emerge as something new?

Regardless, love yourself deeply.