I recently came across an article in the Huffington Post reporting on a study entitled “You Are What You Think”. Intuitively speaking, I believe most people would absolutely agree, but they put some science to it and found that not only do consistent positive thoughts improve your mood, but also your fitness and overall health. Although, nothing groundbreaking it was nice to see. But it reminded me of an undertaking I began about 4 years ago.
The shift in awareness came for me when I began to dive into the topic of self-love. The knowledge of “As Above, So Below” became progressively more and more meaningful and I desired to define it.
I came website (couldn’t find the link) which describe the life of an Inuit native healer that practiced what some can call Shamanism.
There was a statement that grabbed me at the time and I want to share that quote with you now. After I read this I spent time defining these words because often time’s words that are commonly used in our society truly have a different, or at least, an additional meaning. (
Absolute Truth
All is energy
All is numbers
All is mathematical
All is relation
The perfect balance of the universe
Absolute truth moves each individual in their heart center as self-love, self-honor, self-respect, self-integrity, self-pride in who we are as individuals
Defining a Higher Message
I used these definitions to continue to peel the layers of my own consciousness and awareness of my emotional states and patterns because I had become unsatisfied where my life was. I recognized that I was the only one responsible for anything I was experiencing and dedicated myself to taking the necessary steps for my personal growth.
Self-Love
He {Eric Fromm} proposed that loving oneself means caring about oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, respecting oneself, and knowing oneself (e.g. being realistic and honest about one’s strengths and weaknesses). He proposed, further, that in order to be able to truly love another person, a person needs first to love oneself in this way – (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-love)
“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha (http://www.unconditional-selflove.com/)
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
– Jalal Uddin Rumi (http://www.unconditional-selflove.com/)
Self-Honor
Self-honor begins with telling the truth to yourself about what’s really happening in your life. Self-honor is making the decision you are most afraid to make. Self-honor is asking for help when you know another perspective would illuminate possibilities. Self-honor is taking the time to understand what you really, really want so you can declare that you want it. Self-honor is understanding why you want something and having the courage to go for it. Most of all self-honor is doing what you can do now to act on what you really want. (http://www.coreu.com/starting-over-with-honor/)
Self- Respect
Self- respect – a proper sense of one’s own dignity and integrity of personal character, pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity. (google and Wikipedia)
To respect something, on the other hand, is to accept it. With self-respect, we like ourselves because of who we are and not because of what we can or cannot do (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199911/self-esteem-vs-self-respect)
Self-Integrity
Integrity is the state of being whole it is the first step to reaching a state where your body, mind, heart and soul are all in harmony with each other. In order to be in a state of integrity, you have to know what code of ethical behavior to hold to be correct. This does not necessarily mean following a moral code someone taught you, although it might. It means knowing what you believe and walking your talk.
What do you consider important in life? What makes you feel whole and complete? What makes you feel muddy or impure? What makes your spirits soar? What makes you feel proud of yourself? (http://www.dynamism.org/books/mood.html)
Self-integrity is about being true to our values, beliefs and convictions. Our values and self-integrity are intricately intertwined and reflected in our behavior. Our self-integrity connects with living a meaningful life, because it reflects who we truly are. When we live our stated values and have the courage of our convictions, we are true to ourselves. Doing so in tough situations, even when we are tempted to stray from them is the essence of self-integrity. (http://findfulfillflourish.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/how-to-strengthen-your-self-integrity/)
Self-Pride
True pride has to do with acknowledging and respecting who you are and what you can do, without any outside confirmation or approval. False pride has to do with claiming that you are more than you believe you are, and that you know more than you believe you know. This kind of pride almost always requires outside confirmation or approval to cover up an inner feeling of inadequacy. Mind you, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with outside confirmation or approval. It’s only a measure of false pride when you cannot feel any self respect without it.
Another aspect of false pride is arrogance. This is when you pretend that you are better than others in ways that cannot be measured by skill. It is one thing to be better at a particular skill than anyone else, and it is quite another thing to require others to acknowledge that or to pretend that somehow your level of skill makes you a higher type of human being. You’ll notice that I keep saying “pretend.” This is because no matter how good a person is at acting superior, to the degree that he or she needs outside validation for the superiority, that person is pretending. Someone with true pride may or may not be a superior person, but that doesn’t matter to them.
True humility has to do with acknowledging and respecting who you are and what you can do, without any outside confirmation or approval. False humility has to do with claiming you are less than you believe you are, and that you can do less than you believe you can. This kind of humility almost always requires outside confirmation or approval to cover up an inner feeling of arrogance. The person with false humility has a driving need to convince others of how humble he or she is. Sometimes this is because a person believes that any form of pride is bad, and sometimes an essentially arrogant person is using false humility as a way of disarming or manipulating other people. A truly humble person has no need for others to know how humble he or she feels, or any fear of others knowing. A truly humble person feels neither superior nor inferior to anyone else. (http://www.huna.org/html/pride-and-humility.html)
For Your Personal Growth
Enjoy these definitions and read them often… I did for a long time.Below you will see I wrote the quote from that article and had it in my wallet for the past few years… I think it’s time to re-make. If you desire assistance… contact me and lets take the next step together!
Blessings,
Dr. Kevin
