I have been told many times and in many ways that one of the keys to happiness is learning to truly love oneself. Fully embracing self love is one of those foundation pieces that allows authentic love to flow, flowing to me and from me in this circle of life. It is this deep commitment to love that lies at the heart of peace for me.

While I know this to be true I have often struggled with how to get to and stay in this place of true self love. I know how to have moments of self care and moments where I become aware that I need to be more kind and forgiving to myself – but total acceptance of who I am and all that is present in my life has been challenging and a work in progress for me.

During last spring’s Peace Circle Series – Opening to Grace: Connection, Acceptance and Wealth of Love – something happened for me that opened me up to a new experience of self love. It was like my spiritual compass was rebooted and I was able to tap into a new power of self acceptance that I had not experienced before. That power came from my experience of deepening and reconnecting my relationship with the Divine Feminine.

As I journeyed through our Circle and experienced the shared stories, wisdom and ceremony I found myself opening in a new way to connect with the Divine. From a young age I always believed the Divine was part of me. While that belief has never left me, as I journeyed through  life I found myself shifting the bearings on my compass to accommodate the stories and beliefs that I was told and were modelled for me. As a child, I was trying to make things fit and trying to fit in with those I loved.

During our Circle, I became aware that while my adult self accepted the fullness of the Divine as masculine and feminine, my child self had never had an experience of the Feminine Face of God. She was buried deep within me but not freely accessible.

In my life all ‘aha’ moments have come from the roots of truth for me. With the truth of this experience in Circle, I transformed my connection to the Divine within. I smile as I know that she is with me now and with her comes a new way and power to truly love myself.

submitted by Karen McCarthy

Shirley Lynn Martin and Karen McCarthy are again facilitating a 4-Part Series called Opening to Grace: Connection, Acceptance and Wealth of Love starting Tuesday, September 10th. To see what it is about, visit Opening to Grace: Connection, Acceptance and Wealth of Love.