“Dedicate yourself to Love. Decide to let Love be your intention, your purpose, and your point. And then let Love inspire you, support you and guide you in every other dedication you make thereafter.”
– Robert Holden
I am so inspired by these words of Robert Holden! Imagine a world where we all dedicate ourselves to love and allow it to be our purpose, our point. How might our lives be different if we really opened to the power of love and allowed our choices to be motivated and supported by love?
We have a beautiful image of the Dalai Lama hanging in our dining room with his quote, “The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your action will be.” I believe that viewing the world through the lens of love gives us the clarity to make courageous decisions that are both empowering and liberating.
Choosing to let love be our guide provides the foundation of our self-nurturing practice. When we recognize the necessity of being loving and kind to ourselves in order to love others authentically, we are motivated to cultivate a more nurturing relationship with ourselves. In this process we begin to understand that to be the change we want to see in the world we must start by loving ourselves.
Loving ourselves may seem like a wonderful idea but difficult to imagine when we are feeling down on ourselves or not worthy of love and kindness. When we feel this way, if we invite in curiosity and self-compassion instead of judgment and shame, we can open up space to invite in love. In this space, we can choose to be nurturing and loving to ourselves.
And the exciting news is, the more we nurture ourselves, the more we value and love ourselves and the more we value and love ourselves, the more we prioritize nurturing ourselves. This beautifully supporting cycle is cultivated with each act of self-nurturing, making it easier and easier to dedicate our lives to love.
Having been a counselor for over twenty years, I am so grateful to recognize the transformative power of self-nurturing and see the positive impacts demonstrated each and every day in my own life, and in the lives of my remarkable clients. I regularly hear stories of how love inspires my clients to make empowered and nurturing choices that transform stress and overwhelm into peace and joy. Witnessing people choosing love through each act of self-nurturing gives me so much hope for this broken world.
Recently I found a lovely journal with the words “make the world a little kinder.” I truly believe that our commitment to nurturing ourselves is the way to make the world a little kinder. We start by being kinder to ourselves and the ripple effects are endless. My family and I are using this sweet journal to write down acts of kindness we witness in the world and to share our deep gratitude for love and kindness in our lives.
So are you ready to dedicate your life to love?
What self-nurturing act will you engage in today to begin the process of being more loving and kind to yourself?
What ripple effects can you imagine will result as you allow love to inspire, support and guide you?
Please share in the comments below to inspire and encourage others!
May you open to the infinite possibilities that love offers you and may you nurture peace and joy in the world from the inside out!
Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,
Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker
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Hi Kelley, I love this and this is also what I teach when I lead women’s groups and with clients. It is easier said than done but life does change in every aspect when self-care and self-love come into the picture on a regular basis. When we can become present, quiet that chattering in our head and tune inwards we will recognize the beauty and peace we get from loving ourselves. It translates to our happiness and better relationships around us. We truly are mirrors reflecting how we want to be treated and it begins with treating ourselves with LOVE!! Thank you for this beautiful post!
How wonderful that we are in alignment Jenny by teaching self-nurturing and self-love to women! I love your understanding that when we tune inward we can recognize the beauty and peace of loving ourselves which ripples out to the world! We are indeed mirrors of how we want to be treated and giving ourselves permission to be guided by love for ourselves will ensure loving relationships in our lives! Thank you so much for your kind comment!
Thank you Kelley for this wonderful post and reminder to live or lives guided by love. Today I plan to slow down and do some gardening and art to nourish my body and soul.
I love reading “live our lives guided by love” in your comment and then reading how you are embodying that vision by slowing down today, gardening and doing art Rachel. Your day sounds deeply nurturing and I thank you so much for sharing!
Wow Kelley this blog is a call to love. And you show us that loving ourselves will create a ripple of change in the world. You know how aligned this is with my book Being Love. Always love xo
I am so grateful that we are aligned in our message that loving ourselves heals the world Debra and I love your inspiring book Being Love! May we continue to dedicate our lives to love and commit to nurturing ourselves in the process so that we can continue to do this important work in the world! Thank you so much for your loving comment!
Appreciating the content-rich and inspiring dialogue, and then your follow-up questions. My self-nuturing act comes in the way of practicing my new mantra, Less is more. I seek to hold these words as an intention when approaching what I am doing and being. Hopefully, this gentleness will help loosen the grip of “shouldas, couldas, and wouldas.”
I love your new mantra Lore – less is more! When I let go of striving energy and open to the flow, I am so much kinder and more gentle with myself. Thank you so much for sharing how you are intentionally being more loving to yourself!
What a beautiful reminder of the infinite power of love and the unlimited possibilities that it offers us for transformation! Thank you for this dear Kelley.
Thank you so much Laurie! May we embrace the power of love to transform ourselves and the world! I am so grateful for your kind and loving comment!
Such a beautiful post! I’m a big fan of Robert Holden’s work, and between him and Louise Hay, I have been slowly able to accept myself just as I am, and to learn to love myself just as I am. The more I work at this, the more it is reflected in my encounters with both family and friends, and even strangers on the street. People just seem to smile automatically when they look at me. I must be smiling a lot more these days!
I love that you have been able to accept and love yourself just as you are Barb and that the ripple effects can be seen daily by the smiling faces of people you pass on the street. It is amazing how powerful it is to be love! I am so grateful for your inspiring comment! Thank you!
Hi Kelley, Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience about the power of “viewing the world through the lens of love”. I so relate to the advice of beginning with yourself first as if we don’t love and nurture ourselves, it is challenging to love others. In working with high achieving women over the past few years and being one myself, I’ve come to realize that many of us believe we need to perform and achieve in order to be loved. Realizing some years ago that I can and am loved unconditionally, changed my perception of love and made me realize the importance of self-nurturing. I, too, now believe in the “transformative power of self-nurturing”. Thanks for this powerful reminder.
Pamela you so beautifully articulated the challenge so many of us have in prioritizing time for ourselves – the belief that we need to perform and achieve to be loved. This thinking is such a trap because we actually receive much well deserved appreciation for all we give and yet it is not the source of being loved. How wonderful you have realized that you are loved unconditionally and believe in the transformative power of self-nurturing! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!
I find that when we are balanced and centered it is easy to be love. Those who show love and kindness to ourselves are leaders, allowing others to follow and do the same. It starts with ourselves and it does have a ripple effect out into the world. When we feel love for ourselves and show ourselves kindness I think it’s natural to want to do the same for the world. I try to take some time to myself each day to do something I enjoy/love. Today I got outside to prep the garden, plant a few things and sit and read for a bit.
I so appreciate and agree with your comments Heather! I love your statement that those who show love and kindness to ourselves are leaders encouraging others to do the same. Giving permission and encouragement to others to love and nurture themselves by embodying love is a powerful act for sure. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and self-nurturing practices!
Learning how to take care of myself has made the world softer… more peaceful and increasingly aware of the more subtle forms of violence we all face. Thank you for the encouragement.
Andrea I so appreciate that learning to take care of yourself has made the world softer and more peaceful and that you more aware of the subtle forms of violence we all face. Embodying love is definitely the antidote and I thank you so much for your thoughtful comment.