Unconditional Love

"I will love you no matter what. I will love you if you are stupid, if you slip and fall on your face, if you do the wrong thing, if you make mistakes, if you behave like a human being - I will love you no matter."  --Leo Buscaglia



I wonder how many of us have been loved in this way.  Far too few, I would guess.  It is not that our parents did not do the best they could -- given their skill level, their mental health status, and their options in life.  I know my parents did the best they could do -- given their knowledge at the time, but - even with that -- I also know I was not convinced that I was loved no matter what.  That is why I remain to this day susceptible to the habit of pleasing others, susceptible to bullying, and susceptible to thinking I can be loved by what I accomplish -- versus who I am.  Perhaps you can identify with this.  We have to be completely whole in ourselves --- meaning we need to love ourselves unconditionally -- before we can love others unconditionally.  And, most of us do not have the foundation of having been loved unconditionally; we have the task of learning how to do that for ourselves.  One of the practices we can put in place is to never -- and I mean never -- judge ourselves harshly.  We can also practice doing only those things we want to do (versus those we feel we "should").  We can practice taking good care of ourselves:  our health, our finances, our time.  Together let us learn how to love ourselves -- no matter what.