"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony' -Mahatma Gandhi
This year has been a challenging one, with more downs than ups for so many of us, me included.
As I sit here and contemplate all that has been this year, I view it - the good, the bad and the ugly - with gratitude.
Gratitude because no matter how difficult some of the moments have been, they have served their purpose. They have stretched me beyond the boundaries I thought I could go, they have taught me new, and valuable lessons, and reinforced a few that I thought I had already learned.
Most importantly tho, they have sharpened the focus on self love.
For me self love - that real and genuine self love that allows you to wake up each morning and embrace yourself fiercely, and unconditionally, quirks, flaws, and all - is the key to how I experience situations and the impact I allow them to make on my life.
As I look back on how I have responded to the many challenges this year has presented, I see how intricately those responses have been tied to my own perception of myself.
What I have found is that when I operate from a place of authentic self worth, and love I experience all situations very differently and make very different choices about how I respond to those situations than when I operate from a less than optimal sense of self.
The issue is the ability to sustain that self love and give it to ourselves unconditionally and that, atleast for me, has taken time to master.
In order to know, and feel, self love consistently you need to make choices that align with what you know in your heart to be right about yourself.
Self love is at the end of the day a choice like any other and you will choose to start living to your own potential, to start making yourself proud and to start living your truth WHEN you believe that you are worth making that choice for.
It is only then that you will allow yourself to become the person you want yourself to be.
As I take the last remaining footsteps towards 2018, I am doing so making the choice to believe that:
I am enough.
As a daughter, sister, mother, wife, friend, and entrepreneur.
I am good enough. I am talented enough.
I am confident. I am kind.
I share knowledge. I offer compassion.
I fail. I pick myself up. I am perfectly imperfect.
I know who I am and what I stand for. I know and live my truth.
I don’t know it all. I can never know it all. I am no less as a result.
I am enough.
I also believe that self-love is a process, one that will never be truly complete as I grow and evolve. There will always be more I can learn about myself and more kindness I can show to myself.
And in the vein of extending that kindness to myself, I invite you to extend it to yourself, to remind yourself that yes, we are all deeply flawed in many ways and yet that is what makes us human and worthy of our self love.
About Deidre Dattoli
Speaker, author, and mentor, Deidre is highly sought after for her expertise in the fields of personal presence and leadership development.
Deidre is passionate about leading and facilitating the kind of personal change that enables individuals to live and lead from their inner place of brilliance. To find out more about Deidre Dattoli, please visit www.deidredattoli.com