The Quiet Practice of Self Love
Every Return begins where you stand
Many of us were not taught how to love ourselves. We learned how to care for others, how to be responsible, how to keep going. Our attention naturally turned outward to support or stabilise the world around us.
For me, self love did not begin as a feeling. It began as attention. It began with including myself in my own care.
A Different Relationship with Yourself
Over time, self love became less about improving myself and more about accepting myself.
It became the willingness to remain with myself and my discomforts. The willingness to care and support myself in moments of shame, disappointment, or self doubt.
Gradually, this became a different relationship. Not a dramatic one. A quiet companionship built on trust.
Beginning with small acts
Self love began for me in simple daily acts of selfcare. When the conditioned mind criticised or judged, I learned to advocate for myself.
“Life is for learning. I do not need to be perfect.”
When fear arose, I moved gently toward what I was afraid of, one small step at a time. Often, I discovered that what I feared was not nearly as frightening as I had imagined.
This is how trust rebuilds. By becoming our own best friend. By following the heart in those spontaneous moments that nurture our being.
Through this companionship with ourselves, we begin to restore a gentle care and appreciation for our resilient, courageous, and determined spirit.
returning to yourself
In childhood many of us learned to look outward first. I learned to sense and manage the emotional world around me so that life felt safer.
Over time, we can forget to include ourselves. So perhaps self love is simply the practice of returning. Pausing long enough to notice how we feel. Listening when the body asks for rest. Allowing our feelings to be present without immediately trying to change or explain them.
Remembering
The longer I have walked this path, the more I have come to feel that self love is not something we create.
It is something we remember.
Beneath the expectations, the conditioning, and the stories we carry, there remains something whole and untouched.
Perhaps self love is simply the quiet practice of returning to this truth again and again.
Not striving to become someone new.
Simply remembering what has always been here.
With love and appreciation,
Iva and Neil
Founders of Monad Centre of Balance
