By Caroline Diana Bobart

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

It has probably occurred to you already that you wear different ’masks’ or personas in your life. BUT, if you haven’t done a recent inventory, you might be surprised to learn that you have an extensive ‘collection’ of masks that together represents an entire spectrum of human emotion. From vulnerability to ferocious courage, your collection includes a mask connected to every emotion and fear you have – and every nuance in-between.

According to your instincts, before you even formulate a conscious thought about what you perceive to be happening around you, you instinctively reach for and assume the most appropriate mask. Most fundamentally, your collection of ‘masks’ exists to protect you and keep you feeling safe.

When you feel lonely, which is common when you think about it, you have fallen into a pit of illusion. There is no separation except in your thinking and feeling of lostness. If you imagine that you are simply one dot of billions of dots, of course, you feel separate and alone. You, who believe you are unknown, therefore, feel you are not of much importance, and you may believe what a snake long ago whispered in your ear.

It is one thing to be one in a million where the connotation means that you are rare and wonderful, which is who you are. This is the Truth of you regardless of what anyone says.

Yet when you see yourself as a dot among so many dots, you feel nothing wonderful about being one in a million. A million drones, you may think.

You may think that no one knows you, and no one cares, and so you feel immersed in loneliness.

Do you know what you are really lonely for? You are lonely to know your Self. Of course, you are lost without awareness of your Self. You haven’t yet come to know your Self. You are lonely for your Self, and you feel hapless on a little raft in the middle of an ocean. Or you are at the top of a tree from which you don’t know how to get down.

All the while, you are in My Heart. You will find your Self where I am, for where I am, are you.

HJ: Self love is a powerful state of being that profoundly shifts you, your reality and everyone you come into contact with.  It is the key to many positive emotional states such as happiness, joy, awe, peace, and so on.  And, in a sense, the degree to which you love yourself (and by consequence) those around you, is a good measure of your level of consciousness and awareness.  According to Ken Wilber’s model of consciousness it is a high stage of consciousness, which are more fundamental to living a deeply fulfilled, happy life than states, which are inherently transient.

- Truth

16 Simple Ways to Love Yourself Again

By Marc Chernoff | Marc and Angel

Learn to love yourself first, instead of loving the idea of other people loving you.

Paige Bartholomew, Guest
Waking Times

Forgiving yourself can be a tough one because the person who feels angry, and the person you’re angry with, is the same person – YOU!  We get stuck in self-judgment.  We can’t let ourselves off the hook.  Maybe we betrayed our own integrity.  Maybe we betrayed someone we love.  We think we are bad, and we don’t know how to get over it.

Steps for Self-Forgiveness:

1) See your own innocence.  Close your eyes and imagine you are two:  one of you is your higher self and the other of you is your childhood self. See how innocent that child is?  If she did do something wrong – she didn’t do it on purpose!  Her intentions were pure.  She is beautiful.  Sweet.  Loveable.  In your higher self, go to her and hug her.  Give her some of the love she never had.  Drink it in for a while.

Everyone has one common goal in life: to achieve true happiness. The biggest factor holding us back from achieving our dreams is, simply and sadly, our own selves. We put limitations on ourselves everyday, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There are so many ways we can alleviate these restraints.

Remember, life can either be something you embrace or something you hide from. Stop making things complicated and just live your life. It would be so much simpler and more enjoyable if we learned to just release certain limitations.

Let’s take a look at the things you need to let go of in order to become a happier person.

1. The Approval Of Others

Who gives a sh*t what other people think? If you are happy with the decisions you have made, then whose business is that but your own? Think of how much you could achieve if you stopped letting other people’s opinions dictate the way you live your life. Do you, and engage in whatever actions you think might better your life.