Dear Friends,

Last week I received a letter from a dear friend of mine. Here is what she said to me.

“I think of other women who have gone before me. On this same journey – to save themselves. How ironic, that we are taught as little girls to not be selfish, to keep giving to others.

I can’t help but wonder when and where we crossed over the line and stopped caring for ourselves. How did we get that message? Was it the media, our moms, etc…..?

What a wonderful opportunity you have to save so many other women from
falling into that same trap. Your constant reminders to FLY is so simple yet so complex. How do we Finally Love Ourselves?”

This got me to thinking. How do we FLY? Finally Loving Yourself!

What is Love anyway? To us it may be something that we have never had. Several years ago when I was in an abusive relationship; all I wanted was to feel loved. It didn’t matter if I was loved; I just wanted to feel like I was. What I finally came to realize was I was never going to feel this way by his actions. I needed to find other ways to feel loved.

I started to meditate and in order to stay focused on my breathing I would repeat with each breath in “I LOVE” and the breath out “MYSELF”! Even though I didn’t believe it yet; I still did it! I would meditate 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. This became a way for me to slow my brain down; after a while the words that I said to myself began to manifest themselves into actions.

When something would not feel right; I would ask myself if doing that was loving myself. Now I have taken those simple words and turned them into my mission statement for my life. To find joy in everything I do.

This is one of the greatest gifts I ever gave myself. It keeps me from perpetuating the abuse by showing me that I am loved.

Love is an action word. It is the result of some little deed that makes us feel good or special. I want you to take a few minutes right now and write down a list of things that you can do for yourself to put into action the word love.

Most of mine have become part of my daily routine.

1. Getting dressed to shoes, hair and face
2. Prayer and the study of God’s word
3. Drinking my water
4. Eating Breakfast
5. Eating snacks
6. Taking my vitamins
7. Taking a bubble bath
8. Removing my makeup at night
9. Laying out my clothes
10. Listening to beautiful music in my home and car
11. Going to bed at a decent hour.

These things sound familiar don’t they? Isn’t it strange that something so simple can be basis for our FlyLady way of loving ourselves. If I can teach you to do this then believe it or not your home will come together and you will be FLYing!

There are other things I do as part of my basic weekly plan to love myself; exfoliating my skin, conditioning my hair, plucking those unwanted hairs on my chin, filing my nails, polishing my fingernails, and lots of other simple little things to make me smile. They just become part of my routines.

Pampering is not a chore that can be procrastinated. When you don’t take care of yourself it is one of the first signs that you could be depressed. If you don’t take care of you; who will?

You do have time and when you hear yourself say, “I don’t have time!” then I want you stop right there and do just 2 minutes. You are going to feel better and before you know it you will be FLYing. Hey we may have to fake it till we make it but isn’t that what practice really is! It will become a habit that will continue to bless you and your family. After all! If Momma ain’t happy; ain’t nobody happy!

Take 5 minutes and write down your list of things you can do for yourself. Then I want you to cut them up and put them in a jar and each day I want you to pull one out and surprise yourself with a good deed.

Are you ready to FLY by Pampering Yourself each day?

FlyLady

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