“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”—Buddha

By Arielle Giordano

In 1956, psychologist and social philosopher Erich Fromm proposed that loving oneself is different from being arrogant, conceited or egocentric. 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).

How we feel about ourselves influences our relationships with lovers, friends, acquaintances, coworkers and family. People with healthy self-esteem have better friendships and relationships. They are open to asking and seeking help when they need it, and they have the ability to be loved and give love to others.

Dictionary.com defines self-love as: An instinct by which one’s actions are directed to the promotion of one's own welfare or well-being.

Here are some tips on practicing self-love this month:

Awareness: Be aware and connect to a deeper beingness of what is real within, the inner and greater essence of you.

Acceptance: Love and accept the way you are. Know you are okay exactly the way you are.

Honesty: Be profoundly honest. Have the courage to know, see and face your inner obstacles, fears, resistance, positive and negative traits, and notable qualities.

Healing Your Heart: Dealing with old hurts and wounds and abandonment issues can be painful. Most people have experienced a sense of abandonment either from childhood or previous relationships. Being stuck in resentments, harms, scars and dark places keeps you anchored in past pain. You can deal with and heal these wounds alone or with the help of others.

Letting Go of the Past: Be conscious of your thoughts, feelings, reactions, responses and patterns. Avoid attracting the same negative person or situation into your life. Be mindful of the lessons learned from past experiences. Discover the golden nugget of wisdom and integrate the lesson to move forward in your life.

Dance and be LOVE: Surround yourself with people who love and support you. Enjoy spending quality time loving you and others.

Intimacy of Being: Be love, for that is what you truly are at your core. Be the love that you want to receive. Become the person you want to love. Be the person you want to find in a relationship.

Dancing from the Inside Out

with Arielle Giordano

Transformational Life Coach Award-Winning Author & Speaker, Professional Dancer. Arielle’s Award-Winning book for Best Self-Help Award: Dancing With Your Story From The Inside is available on http://www.Amazon.com. Her professional career includes the Lead Faculty Area Chairperson and Professor for the College of Humanities, History and the Arts at the University of Phoenix. She is a published co-author of Transform Your Life Books 1 & 2 and author for Tampa Bay Wellness, Conscious Shift & Transformation magazine. She has published her 4th book, an Instructor’s Manual for Barlow Abnormal Psychology 4th ed. and authored Psychology, A Journey 3rd.ed. Study Guide published by Nelson Education, Toronto, ON. She has also studied philosophy at the College of Integrated Philosophy with John DeRuiter for twenty years. Arielle has been a featured guest on radio and television, in newspapers, and the media across the US and Canada. She is a certified Essentrics Stretch and Dance Instructor. Arielle offers coaching sessions, classes and workshops and a free 30-minute Consultation. Arielle’s new book Dancing with Your Story from the Inside Out is now available on http://www.Amazon.com. Websites: http://www.dancingfromtheinsideout.com, http://www.ariellegiordano.com. Email: agbeautifuldance@gmail.com

By Darrel L. Hammon

People make life way too challenging, too overwhelming, too large for one to even comprehend any of it.

Or maybe it’s the Internet, the magazines, the photoshoots, the blogs, the incessant whining of commentators of day-time cable or news channels and podcasts that shout out the horrendous stories and news that have ostensibly happened to this person or that person or Instagram posts that seem so glamorous and far-fetched simultaneously.

Photoshop has added this and that, a pinch of more highlights and rosy skin, thinned out some bumps and excess of whatever might be deemed as excessive, even added a tone or two, made gray and wrinkles disappear at a mere click of the index finger or even the thumb, created an image or smoothness that truly doesn’t reflect anything or anyone in real life but creating a fictitious image of what could be if….

So many apps surreptitiously meld the lines of reality and fiction, fake and truth to the point of what is really real?

Whatever happened to the simplicity of life without all of the distractions, distortions, and disturbances? Have we come as far as to dim the truth by telling a tall tale, fashioning a hyperbole or even hyping nothing but air and nonsense to capture more “likes” than anyone else?

Perhaps, we should bag the many lenses of extravagance to a single lens of reality and a sense of wholeness and goodness, not caked with the layers of density and excess.

Perhaps, the simplicity of life is exactly that: simplicity of doing and seeing, no tiers of who’s who or what’s what but mere deposits of good-old fashion of what is still real and true and moral.

Darrel L. Hammon has been dabbling in writing in a variety of genres since his college days, having published poetry, academic and personal articles/essays, a book titled Completing Graduate School Long Distance (Sage Publications), and a picture book, The Adventures of Bob the Bullfrog: Christmas Beneath a Frozen Lake (Outskirts Press). He also was the editor of the Journal of Adult Education (Mountain Plains Adult Education Association). Most of his essay/article writing has focused on topics about growing up, leadership, self-awareness, motivation, marriage/dating, and educational topics. Some of these articles/essays are in Spanish because Darrel is bilingual in Spanish/English, having lived in Chile, Dominican Republic, and southern California, and having worked with Latino youth and families all of his professional life in higher education. He has two blogs, one for personal writing at http://www.darrelhammon.blogspot.com/ and one for his consulting/life coaching business (http://www.hammonconsults.blogspot.com/). You can listen to a poem titled “Sprucing Up” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihTmuOUIAEI