Learning To Love Yourself Is the Greatest Love Of All

I was so saddened by the news last month that Miss Whitney Houston had died at 48 years old. Whatever her personal struggles in life - drugs, love, alcohol no one can deny the God given talent Whitney possessed, that inspired millions around the world.

At about 13 years old I fell in love with her music. Even the stuff from the 80's! Amazing voice, amazing talent, amazing messages in her music that we could all listen to again and again! I'm pretty sure my wedding night will be mainly a collection of Whitney's greatest hits!

Most of Whitney's songs are about the biggest subject in the world... LOVE! Maybe it was the love she sang so passionately about, as well as that phenomenal voice, that made us all love her music. Kacey is 2 and she's been gripped by all the Whitney songs being played as tribute at the moment. Who doesn't think about... who doesn't want... who doesn't need love?

We've all felt love at some point in our lives.

The love you feel for your parents. When your little and you've had a bad day at school because your best friend fell out with you and un-invited you from their birthday party - that hug and understanding from your mommy is like no other! Falling over and your daddy picking you up, wiping your tears from your eyes and telling off the floor for hitting your head! How safe does a daddy's chest feel? I like to think that old saying... 'you can't choose your parents' is rubbish - I'm sure I chose mine.

The love you feel when you hold your new born baby in your arms is incredible. You would do anything to protect the bundle of joy in your arms, truly nothing else matters. You find that you feel in love with everything, every things perfect, the worlds a beautiful place!

The love you feel the first time you fall in love! Those butterflies, your heart skipping beats when you see them, thinking about them ALL THE TIME, feeling shy when your around them, waiting for AGES for them to call you. Wondering if they love you back - Whitney understood when she released, 'How Will I Know?'

In 1986, the year I was born, Whitney released, 'The Greatest Love Of All' If your not familiar with the words:

'I decided long ago, never to walk in any ones shadow, if I fail, if I succeed, they cant take away my dignity... Because the greatest love of all is easy to achieve, learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.'

I'm not sure if Whitney ever got to that point in her life, maybe that's why she left to start the next one. But I truly believe that without loving yourself, without being happy with yourself everything on the outside can shake you and break you. You may look to outside factors to make you feel better about yourself, to take away your insecurities. No matter what happens in life you need to be able to count on yourself. The person you love can break your heart, the person you trust can stab you in the back and the person you thought would protect you can throw you to the lions. If you have a deep understanding of yourself, a happiness , a love then no matter what others do to you or what life throws at you, you can always rely on yourself to eventually be ok - dare I say even happy!

I heard something interesting the other day, according to Charles J. Orlando author of 'The Problem With Women Is... Men' Whenever we leave a situation or relationship 'badly' or 'in a mess' we will take the issues that brought us to that messy situation in the first place into our next relationship. Basically until you deal with your own issues - no matter how many times you run away from them - they will replay out in your life until you deal with them. How many times have you found yourself in the same bad situation? Maybe there's something life's trying to teach you?

So how do you love yourself? I guess you have to know yourself first, the good, the bad and the ugly. Don't beat yourself up if you fall short of your expectations, or the expectations others have placed on your life. Ask yourself what do you want out of your life? I told someone to meditate the other day because they were stressed out, in fact Ive told loads of people to do this! And I try to do it myself. I don't mean go into a field chanting in bare feet, enter a tent and sit cross legged on the floor for 6 hours saying 'hmmmmmmmmm' before hugging a tree. By meditation I mean, go sit by yourself for 5 minutes, close your eyes and clear your mind. Focus on feeling good. You never know you might find out something important about yourself or a situation that you were too busy to notice before. How do you find out if you're in love with another person? - Spend time with them - so spend some time with yourself. (No I'm not being dirty Emma) If there's something you don't like about yourself then change it - no one else can.

So those of you that know me know I've never had anything really tragic happen to me in life that hasn't worked itself out. I've never lost anyone close to me. Jake's heart stopped when he was 7 weeks old, that's probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me - but luckily I never lost my baby. There are things that have happened to me that are tragic, that I wouldn't like to share with everyone reading my blog

Love is strong not weak, so be strong, know yourself, and love yourself. Your amazing. Honestly there's loads of areas in my life I'm unhappy with and I know it's because I have issues I need to work on. I have loads planned this year, lots of personal goals. I'm going to work on the only person I can improve upon - ME!

Until next time,
Lot's of Love,
Naomi Claire
xxx