Last year I focused on self-love. I realised my love addiction stemmed from the lack of it and I wanted to embark on a self-love programme but discovered there was no ready made package. So I read about it and also found Tiny Buddha’s Guide to Loving Yourself: 40 Ways to Transform Your Inner Critic and Your Life by Lori Deschene. It is a collection of essays by bloggers and I must say initially I was sceptical about its contents. However it turned out to be an eye opener. Erin Lanahan’s Rejection Can Reveal How We Are Rejecting Ourselves (press Next twice) in particular struck the cord – Erin showed me why I continued to be stuck in the unhealthy pattern of love addiction:

When I experience the pain of rejection in the external world, it is only because there are still places within myself where I am rejecting myself. As long as I reject myself, I will regularly attract people and situations that reject me…

There are more gems in the book – Julie Hoyle shares a life changing perspective on dealing with negative people in How to Come Home to Yourself – when having an anger outburst triggered by someone have you ever paused and instead of reacting and blaming the subject of your anger, turn your gaze inside? If you did, you would have realised that the subject is just a mirror, reflection of issues bubbling inside of you. What an amazing, reframing, reprogramming technique!

My own quest, bloggers in Lori’s book and a request from a friend inspired me to put together a 7-day self-love mini programme. Continue reading →