When you work hard you should reward yourself. The Polish & Shine phase can be found in my book Hidden Treasure and it is the last step of my 5 Steps to Transformational Self-Love journey. It is how you practice the art of magnificent self-love. It’s the actions you take daily to remind yourself that you are a treasure meant to be loved and cherished. This is the phase that you recognize the events that have happened to you in the past and see them as GEMs. That have made you into who you are today Glorious, Empowered and Magnificent. This is where you shine and become radiant. You learn to love the person you are and stop worrying about who others think you should be.
Example from My Life:
I had to learn to love myself in my cancer recovery and recognize that it was okay to be taken care of. I gave myself permission to be “selfish,” and in doing that I gave myself permission to heal, to be quiet, and to be loved. I made a commitment to get my hair done and polish my nails once a week. I decided that I didn’t have to go to every event that my son or husband were involved in. I gave myself permission to be “missed,” and it gave my family the space to appreciate me more when I was there. When I took time to honor myself it filled me with an abundance of love that I could share with others. It allowed me to be more available to my family because I had taken the time to tend to my own needs. Self-love showed me that my life was worth saving and it gave me a hunger to share my lessons with other women—with you—so they won’t have to experience the same extraordinary challenges to learn what I had.
I listened to His whispers and decided to no longer live in the shadows not allowing my brilliance to come through. It’s my life’s mission to speak love, joy, and possibility into the lives of women all over the world. I realized that this is what all of the lessons were for. They were all for…you.
Your Turn… Go Deep:
- Think back on the things you have done for yourself that have made you feel loved.
- List the things that cost you the least money and made you feel the best.
- Circle the ones that you can do daily, draw a square around the ones that you can do monthly, and put a star by the ones that you must do before you die.
- Imagine how you would feel if you started with the one you starred first. Now, write that feeling down.
- Review your list and give yourself permission the complete at least one item today and make a plan on how you will add to it every week.
We all have healing to do after the cutting. Take time to yourself, mediate and heal your soul. Our tendency is to go back to what was comfortable and into who our family always knew us to be. But dare to be the truest version of yourself, show off the person who you have been hiding this entire time and show your family how to love and appreciate the GEM that has always been within.
To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.
~ Alan Cohen
