How many times have you gotten caught up in drama that wasn’t true? Or lost yourself in the obsession of negative thinking?

It’s a constant tape playing that says:

• you’re not good enough
• no one likes you
• you’re a horrible person
• you’ll never get what you want in life
• you’re a failure and everyone knows it

If you spent a minute paying attention to the awful things you think, it’d make you weep. You may be walking through life on autopilot feeling down, irritable and angry without ever knowing why. Well it’s the things you tell yourself that makes you feel wretched inside.

Use this weekend to stop the negative talk, to put a pause on the internal drama that wreaks havoc on your external life. Find a place inside yourself that is calm, at peace, and feels like home.

When the things you tell yourself begins to affect your outer life, that’s when you need to awaken your inner voice. Instead of continuing to beat yourself down about what you should have done, what you shouldn’t have said, let your soul help lighten your load. Somewhere deep inside of you, there is a quiet knowing, a place of peace and unconditional love. It is the inner voice that says, “You will be okay. You are loved. I am always here for you.” I find it when I am silent, present focused and when I allow the drama to settle long enough to hear it.

You will never be able to solve a problem, feel better about yourself, or find joy in your life by being someone you’re not. You will never gain the love and acceptance you long for by holding on desperately to things, people, past events. Only by opening yourself up, the way a flower opens from a bud, will you be able to realize that you are loved.

This weekend, find your happy place with people who truly love and care about you. Find it in solitude, in meditation, in serene walks, in the simple knowing that you don’t have to do or be anything to be worthy. Forgive yourself for the things you did or didn’t do. Recognize your strengths, the way you focus on your weaknesses. Lighten the huge load that weighs on your heart every day. And love yourself not in tiny bite-sized conditional pieces. But for once, love yourself whole.