Valentine’s Day is upon us. It’s a day that turns our attentions to matters of the heart – to love, to romance, to friends and family. The day gives us permission to express our heartfelt  wishes and desires, and an appreciation of love and friendship.

Have you ever taken the day to express your love of self? To show appreciation of all that you have been, are and can be? To really hug yourself and say thanks to yourself for all your hard work, passion, silliness, frailties, persistence, and dreams as yet untold?

It is a wonderful idea isn’t it?

Buddha said “You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Lucille Ball said “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.”

And Oscar Wilde said “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

There has been so much researched and written over the last 100 years about how vitally important it is to love and appreciate yourself, and how this love guides the results you get in life – be that in relationships, health or career. And yet, true love of self seems to be last on the list of priorities for many.

In his outstanding book, “Psycho-Cybernetics”, Dr. Maxwell Maltz says this: “To really “live”, you must have an adequate and realistic self-image that you can live with. You must find your self acceptable to you. …You must have a self that you can trust and believe in. You must have a self that you are not ashamed to “be”, and one that you can feel free to express creatively rather than hide or cover up.”

Embracing the fullness of you allows for happiness, success and peace of mind. For each of us is, at our core, PERFECT. As Bob Proctor reminds us, “Our spiritual DNA is perfect.” So why not only embrace that wonderful you but allow it to express itself fully? In doing so, you are signing up for a lifelong and glorious journey!

Maltz goes on to say “When we experience expansive emotions of happiness, self-confidence, and success, we enjoy more life. And to the degree that we inhibit our abilities, frustrate our God-given talents, and allow ourselves to suffer anxiety, fear, self-condemnation, and self-hate, we literally choke off the life force available to us and turn our backs on the gift which our Creator has made.”

You ARE a GIFT!

Why is this such an important lesson for us all? Because our self-image sets the boundaries of our accomplishments. If we have a limited self-image, our results in life are limited. If we have a negative self-image, our results are negative. It is truly that simple. Bob Proctor further teaches that “the opinion you have yourself will always be reflected to the world around you and it will be manifest in the results that you achieve in life.” Importantly he says, “that it is an opinion – yours – and you can change your opinion at any time.”

Isn’t that wonderful news, and indeed liberating?

WE CAN CHANGE OUR OPINION OF OURSELVES – WE CAN CHANGE OUR SELF-IMAGE! What a fantastic realization!!! The great psychologist William James stated that the greatest discovery of his generation was that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

YOU ARE A GIFT!! Embrace your gift that is YOU. Fall in love with you. Kiss yourself and hug yourself, and embrace all that you have been, are, and can be. Change your opinion of yourself to acknowledge and embrace the greatness within. Affirm in your mind that you are truly a wonderful, gifted and talented human being! Affirm it again and again and again!

And look in the mirror this Valentine’s Day, and say “Happy Valentine’s Day to Me! Will you be my Valentine?” And with everything in your heart and soul, say YES!!