We deserve to be good to ourselves

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." -- Buddha While driving one of my children's vehicles, I noticed it was incredibly difficult to see out of the front windshield. So, after putting away the groceries, I got out the Windex and a roll of paper towels and began cleaning. As I was cleaning, a thought came to me regarding how we treat ourselves. Often we let things go, we don't "bother" to do for ourselves what we would gladly do for others. I felt good cleaning the windows on my Teenager's car-an act of service, but how often do I stop to clean my own windows. As Buddha says above, we deserve our own love and affection and might I add, care taking. Particularly, we women, often have a hard time taking care of ourselves or giving ourselves the little extras we lovingly give to others. We deserve to be good to ourselves whether that means a clean car, clean bedroom (I'm speaking for myself here!), a treat now and then, a bouquet of flowers that catch our eye at the store, a nap to rejuvenate, an hour to ourselves to save our sanity, but most importantly we deserve to love who we are and appreciate ourselves-imperfections and all. It's important to be good to ourselves by creating a space that is clean and personalized, where we have the ability to reconnect with what's important to us and to follow through with our dreams and aspirations. We deserve to push ourselves to be our persosnal best and appreciate the person we've become.

"The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs."-- Joan Didion