What Is Self-Love?

Beyond bubble baths, hot springs, time in nature, fruit smoothies and clean food, beautiful music, yoga, fresh flowers, meditation, and the infinitely long list of ways to care for oneself, what I'm wondering is...

What does it mean to be tender with yourself?

I spend a lot of time caring for myself, including but not limited to the ways I've mentioned above, and yet sometimes it just doesn't feel like enough. The care is there, but not necessarily the love.

So, what does it mean to love oneself?

How do you love yourself beyond giving yourself a bubble bath, a dip in the ocean or an evening off from 'work' activities?

What is self-love and what does it look like, feel like, and taste like (no pun intended) above and beyond self-care itself?

What is self-love as a way of being?

How do you 'be' love itself, with others, but more importantly with yourself, especially—and regardless—of the moments when caring for yourself?

Often I find myself caring for me, but not loving me, which often feels like a paradox, tearing at the fabric of my being.

Just because I'm giving myself care, doesn't mean I'm giving myself love.

In my opinion self-care and self-love are mutually exclusive. The presence of one does not imply the presence of the other.

I know I'm not alone in this philosophical inquiry, for you and I are one, masked as two.

...and if this is up for me, time and experience has shown me this is up for others—consciosuly or unconsciously.

So, fill me in, because I'm curious. What does tenderness and self-love mean to you...and what's the relationship between self-care, self-love, and tenderness for you?

You can see the original Facebook post here.