{"id":746,"date":"2013-11-08T03:32:44","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T03:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/?p=746"},"modified":"2013-11-14T06:49:55","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T06:49:55","slug":"the-greatest-love-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/?p=746","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest Love of All [podcast]"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h1>Whitney sang about it and the world sang along, but what exactly is self love?\u00a0 I believe it&#8217;s the practice of nurturing one&#8217;s spirit\u00a0with praise and gratitude, and the acceptance of\u00a0and love for\u00a0one\u2019s physical form.\u00a0The gift of self-love is accessible to all who wish to claim it.<\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span id=\"pod_audio_1\">&nbsp;<\/span>\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  \n\t\t\tAudioPlayer.embed(\"pod_audio_1\", {soundFile: \"https%3A%2F%2Fispeakistir.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2FMSC1-TheGreatestLoveofAllwithMusic.mp3\"});  \n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<h3>SELF-TALK<\/h3>\n<p>Our active minds will indulge in destructive thoughts should we allow them. Thankfully, all habits, including self-defeating ones are learned behavior which can be replaced. \u00a0In the words of my grandmother, \u201cIf you don\u2019t think you\u2019re cute, nobody else will.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>MIRROR, MIRROR&#8230;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I was recently introduced to Jack Canfield&#8217;s \u201cMirror Exercise&#8221;,\u00a0a self-love experiment perfect for beginners.\u00a0This exercise asks you to look deeply into your eyes for 40 consecutive nights and affirm, \u201cI love you\u201d and speak your full name. \u00a0Prior to attempting it, I thought my self-love tank was pretty full.\u00a0 Was I ever wrong!\u00a0 A few seconds into my first\u00a0\u201cbarefaced mirror\u00a0workout&#8221;,\u00a0I examined my face and\u00a0the meter on my tank started dipping\u00a0toward the empty zone.\u00a0 Staring into my face and acknowledging my own nakedness, the unpolished version of\u00a0me was painful exhilaration.<\/p>\n<h3>THE VEIL HAD BEEN LIFTED<\/h3>\n<p>On day two\u00a0of the Mirror Exercise,\u00a0I\u00a0looked past my\u00a0face and as instructed, I\u00a0stared deep into my eyes and took a slow breath.\u00a0 Immediately, I began to flood myself with all the love I could muster.\u00a0 I softly uttered, &#8220;I love you Leslie&#8221; to my reflection and began to sense my empty tank refilling.<\/p>\n<p>The third evening when I said, \u201cI love you\u201d it was\u00a0fearless.\u00a0 By day four, I found softness, true beauty, and my declaration resounded\u00a0into the next room.\u00a0 My husband asked me if I was talking to him\u2026I replied, \u201cYes.\u00a0 I love you, and I don\u2019t tell you often enough!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, 15 days\u00a0into the exercise, I\u2019m learning to be kinder to my whole self.\u00a0 I\u2019m re-learning that beauty really does come from within.\u00a0It begins and ends in the spirit.\u00a0You see,\u00a0I&#8217;ve lost many family members and friends who didn&#8217;t live to experience wrinkles or great-grandchildren. I will honor them by\u00a0appreciating\u00a0all that age brings.\u00a0 For it is my legacy.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve woven the Mirror Exercise into my\u00a0evening\u00a0routine, restoring my personal supply of love first and offering it to others second.<\/p>\n<h3>REFILL AND HEAL!<\/h3>\n<p>Is your self-love tank running low?\u00a0If so,\u00a0I suggest you get re-acquainted with yourself by making daily\u00a0affirmations\u00a0of acceptance.\u00a0 Give praise, for you are \u201cfearfully and wonderfully made.\u201d\u00a0 Declare aloud, \u201cI love you,\u00a0me!\u201d\u00a0 Replace self-defeating thoughts\u00a0with kindness to your spirit. Forgive yourself right now for everything leading up to this moment.\u00a0 Forgive others, and walk bravely and freely into the present with a full tank of love.<\/p>\n<p>I affirm that I\u00a0will\u00a0offer love to myself first, which guarantees a plentiful supply of my love for others.\u00a0 Will you affirm this too?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whitney sang about it and the world sang along, but what exactly is self love?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispeakistir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}