Inspired by Debbie Ford, I know that we all yearn for different kinds of love at different times in our lives. Sometimes I need acceptance and gentleness and at other times passion and adventure. When my daughter Jillian was born, everything happened so quickly and I wasn’t sure if I should be helping by pushing or not. Brent was being his gentle self just quietly breathing, offering soothing words and stroking my hand. One nurse with an angry voice put her face in my face and sternly said, “Look at me and I will tell you exactly when to push!” After Jillian’s birth, the nurse apologized but I refused to accept it and instead thanked her. This was the kind of love I needed right then with direct instructions.

This week’s self-love exercise that I have chosen to engage in, asks me each morning to breathe into the area around my heart and notice any feelings or emotions that reside there. This morning the colour I felt was an intense orange, which made me smile excitedly. Orange is my passion colour. It calls me to laugh loudly, eat voraciously, sit on the edge of my seat, run hard and love intensely. No gentleness for me today. Instead it was coloured with fierce expression!

~ Ellyn