“I think love starts here
everything else is just desire and projections
of all our wants needs and fantasies
but those externalities could never work out
if we didn’t turn inward and learn
how to love ourselves in order to love other people”
“i made change after change
on the road to perfection
but when i finally felt beautiful enough
their definition of beauty
suddenly changed
what if there is no finish line
and in an attempt to keep up
i lose the gifts i was born with
for a beauty so insecure
it can’t commit to itself
-the lies they sell”
“When you’re feeling overwhelmed or your body is giving you signs that you’re overdoing it,: stop,breathe, and remember one thing: everything can wait. Fall in love with you. Love, support, validate, and nourish a relationship with yourself.”
“sometimes when everything seems at
its worst
when all conspires
and gnaws
and the hours, days, weeks
years
seem wasted-
stretched there upon my bed
in the dark
looking upward at the ceiling
I get what many will consider an
obnoxious thought:
it’s still nice to be
Bukowski.”
“We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength. I believe that not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but that ultimately they are indistinguishable.”
“One of the best guides to how to be self-loving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others. There was a time when I felt lousy about my over-forty body, saw myself as too fat, too this, or too that. Yet I fantasized about finding a lover who would give me the gift of being loved as I am.”
“The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason. Why:
Lest I revenge. Myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O no, alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain.”
“She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self-affection. He made her like herself. With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.”
Sutra 2.32: sauca-santosa-tapah-svâdhyâyesvara-prañidhânâni niyamâh
Translation: Cleanliness and purity of body and mind, an attitude of contentment, discipline, self-study and reflection on sacred words, and an attitude of surrender are the observances or practices of self-training, and are the second rung on the ladder of yoga, otherwise known as the Niyamas.
“Treat your body carefully. Take care of it. Don’t let anyone abuse it, and don’t abuse it yourself. Every inch of your skin I made diligently; months I slaved over you. You are my masterpiece.”