Unconditional Love

Written by Judi Singleton


Unconditional love In this journey in life we often are called upon to love others

unconditionally. How does one do that? I feel it starts with loving

yourself unconditionally. Now about two years ago I made a commitment

to myself to be authentic. How is that connected with my journey in

learning to love myself? Well, it is definitelyrepparttar first step in

loving myself. I had to ask myself if I placed conditions on myself of

how I would behave to be able to receive my own self love? Of course I

did, some times my expectations were not apparent but they were there.

I would love myself when I lost ten pounds. I would love myself when I

succeeded in my business. I would love myself when you fill inrepparttar 123025

blanks. I am sure you have a lot of those expectations of yourself in

your life too. Next I had to takerepparttar 123026 risk to be open and vunerable to who I really

was with no preset expectations and still unconditionally love myself. This took getting to know myself in a whole new way. It meant loving

the dark and light sides of me. We all have dark sides but it sure was

easier not to look atrepparttar 123027 dark side. Then I was suppose to loverepparttar 123028

dark things I saw in myself, yeah sure. That took a bit of doing but

The Importance of Balance

Written by Staci Stallings


As a stay-at-home mom, I have hadrepparttar distinct privilege of being involved in several “mom-lifestyle” discussions. Most focus onrepparttar 123024 roll of mothers in society today. Generally there are two camps. One says that a mother should stay at home, be there for her family exclusively, and be willing to sacrifice her very life and happiness forrepparttar 123025 happiness ofrepparttar 123026 family. The second group says no, a mother should be able to pursue her own career, and althoughrepparttar 123027 family may suffer some, her dreams and goals should be paramount.

In discussing this paradox with several people (including my own mother), I have come to this conclusion—neither one works long term.

For a moment, I’d like to back track and see how we got here. Years ago—40 to 50 now, a woman’s sole job was to stay at home, cook, clean, and basically take care of her family. If a woman married, she was expected to berepparttar 123028 caretaker ofrepparttar 123029 children (and if she didn’t marry, then something must be wrong with her). This was a woman’s role. Period.

Then camerepparttar 123030 women’s movement, and leaders said, “Family isn’t important, you are. Go out, pursue your goals, we will set up daycares and pushrepparttar 123031 concept of year round school so that you can.”

The problem with these two approaches is that following either one to its extreme throws life out of balance. After lengthy discussions, I have come torepparttar 123032 following conclusion: once you get married and have kids, there are three relationships that must be maintained. The first is with yourself. You cannot be all things to everyone else if you are not something to yourself.

This isrepparttar 123033 trap that many teenagers fall into—if I can just get married and have kids, then I’ll be happy. They believe (as society taught for many years) that having a family will automatically fillrepparttar 123034 void they feel in their lives. It will not. What too often happens to these women is they getrepparttar 123035 family,repparttar 123036 two kids,repparttar 123037 husband, andrepparttar 123038 dog. Then they look up, bleary-eyed from too many nights of missed sleep, and they say, “I don’t understand. This was supposed to make me happy.”

Boredom, loneliness, and frustration set in, and pretty soon,repparttar 123039 woman begins to believe that if she was just not married, if she just didn’t have kids, then her life would really be wonderful. Some go so far as to actually detach fromrepparttar 123040 family unit—emotionally or physically. But that isn’trepparttar 123041 answer either. The answer lies within. The woman must find ways and schedule time to pursue those activities that are important to her family or no family. In this way she can nurturerepparttar 123042 relationship she has with herself.

The second relationship a woman must foster isrepparttar 123043 relationship with her husband. Some women when they have kids, seem to forget about their husband. They become wrapped up inrepparttar 123044 day-to-day chores (which admittedly can be overwhelming), and they detach from their partner in life. Again, scheduling time to spend together is vital. Make time for each other, like you did when you were first together. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that.

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