"As I Began to Love Myself..."

Self-care and self-love are essential for a happy and healthy life. Even more so when working within the healing world - as therapists we are exposed to more stories of hurt, pain and trauma than many people hear in a lifetime. And that's on top of events in our own lives. Kim McMillen's poem, As I began to love myself, puts the journey towards self-care and self-love utterly beautifully (you can find it below).

As is so often the case, the words of a gifted author offer a beautiful clarity and seeming simplicity. When it comes to achieving these things it can feel like an insurmountable task - achieving just one of them can feel huge.

Yet echoes of these harmonious states of being so often emerge at the end of Massage sessions, at the end of NeuroTouch exchanges.

Touch has an incredible ability to reconnect us to our deepest truth, to our strength and our courage, to a clarity which is so often obscured by the relentless bombardment of messages our society sends our way. For many years Touch has been seen as a poor cousin of systems of medicine - a "nice to have" but in no way essential.

That needs to change - because Touch has so much to offer us.

All change starts in one place: with just one person. Every instance of respectful, compassionate, consented and accepting Touch is in itself a revolution - and one we're doing everything we can to turn from a trickle into a flood. We'd love you to be a part of it with us.

Tigger

As I began to love myself

by Kim McMillen

As I began to love myself
I found that anguish and emotional suffering
are only warning signs that I was living
against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is Authenticity.

As I began to love myself
I understood how much it can offend somebody
if I try to force my desires on this person,
even though I knew the time was not right
and the person was not ready for it,
and even though this person was me.
Today I call this Respect.

As I began to love myself
I stopped craving for a different life,
and I could see that everything
that surrounded me
was inviting me to grow.
Today I call this Maturity.

As I began to love myself
I understood that at any circumstance,
I am in the right place at the right time,
and everything happens at the exactly right moment.
So I could be calm.
Today I call this Self-Confidence.

As I began to love myself
I quit stealing my own time,
and I stopped designing huge projects
for the future.
Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness,
things I love to do and that make my heart cheer,
and I do them in my own way
and in my own rhythm.
Today I call this Simplicity.

As I began to love myself
I freed myself of anything
that is no good for my health –
food, people, things, situations,
and everything that drew me down
and away from myself.
At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.
Today I know it is Love of Oneself.

As I began to love myself
I quit trying to always be right,
and ever since
I was wrong less of the time.
Today I discovered that is Modesty.

As I began to love myself
I refused to go on living in the past
and worrying about the future.
Now, I only live for the moment,
where everything is happening.
Today I live each day,
day by day,
and I call it Fulfillment.

As I began to love myself
I recognized
that my mind can disturb me
and it can make me sick.
But as I connected it to my heart,
my mind became a valuable ally.
Today I call this connection Wisdom of the Heart.

We no longer need to fear arguments,
confrontations or any kind of problems
with ourselves or others.
Even stars collide,
and out of their crashing, new worlds are born.
Today I know: This is Life!