Happy New Year! I hope your entry into 2011 was a good one! I was home, doing the spiritual work I love to do at the end of each year, nurturing the love I have for me. After being a DoorMat for a majority of my life, it was a long, often tough journey into self to reach the loving place I’m blessed to be in today. That’s why I’m heeding my calling to give back for the blessing of loving myself, why I launched my Self-Love initiative.

I’m so excited to begin Self-Love Month! January is a whole month to focus on being kinder to yourself! Of course this doesn’t mean it ends on February 1st. I hope to get you into the habit of being loving and kind to yourself every day. That’s what this month is for–building self-love. The more kind things you do for you the better you’ll feel. The better you feel the more you’ll feel good about you. The more you feel good about you, the more you’ll want to do loving things. It’s a synergy that nourishes your soul.

Every little loving thing you do is a brick in the foundation of self-love. Enjoy the journey to falling in love with yourself!

Today is the beginning of my 31 Days of Self-Love Marathon of posts here on Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat. I intend to post at least once a day, to give you tons of ways to find your path to your own self-love. We all have different issues and roadblocks so there will be a variety of directions to building self-love addressed. I have some great guests lined up too.

Consider this your ammo for fighting self-love busters so true love can guide you to a happy life.

No matter how old you are, it’s never too late! No matter how low you feel about you, it’s never too late!  No matter how many people have made you feel like you don’t deserve to love yourself, it’s never too late! People told me it was too late for me when I began my journey out of DoorMatville, determined to create a life I loved, and to love me. Not long before that I literally thought I was fat and ugly and unworthy of anything except being someone people could wipe their feet on.

If you’d told me back then that I’d eventually love myself deeply, totally accept me exactly as I am, cellulite, unruly hair and all, I’d have laughed at the absurdity of it.

But I found my way through the darkness of self-loathing and low self-esteem to reinvent myself into a bestselling author and self-empowerment counselor who now helps others build self-love and a life they love. IF I COULD DO IT, ANYONE CAN!! And now I want to help as many people as possible find the blessing of their own self-love to be as happy as I am. Happy wasn’t in my vocabulary when I was a DoorMat, except to help others feel it. Now I wake up smiling, in love with myself, every day!

I heard J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, say that there’s nothing more powerful than love. She referenced 9/11 and how many people who knew they were going to die had to call people to say they loved them. It was very important to them in that horrible crisis. And their loved ones cherished those words. Real love does make people feel good. When you love yourself, you have the power to give yourself this nurturing commodity whenever you choose. That’s very powerful when you think about it.

•    You have the power to beat yourself up for a mistake or to be forgiving.
•    You have the power to take nasty things that people say personally or to refuse to give their words credence.
•    You have the power to stay in an unhappy relationship because you’re scared of being alone or to walk away because you deserve better.
•    You have the power to be a DoorMat and ignore your own needs or to set boundaries so that your needs are met.

Etc! Self-love helps you go for the latter choices–the ones that are in your own best interests. I’ll post things you can do to be kind to you all month. Plus, download my free book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, and learn more techniques for breaking those darn old habits that keep you stuck. When you sign my pledge to give yourself 31 Days of Self-Love, you’ve taken a big loving step toward self-love. Post what you do to show yourself love HERE.

Give yourself the greatest gift you can give yourself for the New Year–yourself, happy and loved.

I want to raise your consciousness for the New Year, and keep it going. Self-love begins and ends with YOU. YOU have the power to build it. YOU have the power to kill it. I’ll show you ways to build it. It’s YOUR choice to feel good about you and accept yourself as you are, not your romantic partner’s or your mom’s or a critical friend’s, etc. YOUR choice. Use the tools in my book and even more here on my blog to give yourself the happy life you deserve, using self-love as the fuel. Please spread the word for people to read my 31 Days of Self-Love Marathon of posts here on Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat.

Let’s spread the love for 2011!

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