This morning I stood under the shower and let the hot water pulse against my chest and back. It felt like an embrace from the Universe and I felt loved.

Often, women who struggle to release weight are love-starved. Oh, they may have plenty of people who love and adore them, but they don’t feel loved. Perhaps they’re so afraid of being judged that they refuse to completely open their hearts to others, or they have expectations of how people should love them that aren’t being met, or some variation.

At the root of this is the belief that love is something that is given to you, that comes from outside of you, that has to meet certain criteria before you will accept it as love.

How’s that working out for you?

To see lasting changes in your body, it’s important to begin to crack that shell and allow love to trickle in from alternative places—from All-That-Is (God, the Universe, Source Energy, Higher Coach—whatever works for you) and from yourself.

It’s easier to allow yourself to feel Universal love when you begin to believe Einstein was correct when he said E=MC2. In other words, everything is energy. Where do you think that energy comes from?

When you connect tactile experiences with Spiritual Energy, you can begin to feel them in a different way. The hot water of a shower feels like an embrace. The silky feeling of your blouse feels like a caress. The blankets enfolding you in your bed feel like a hug. Lean into those experiences and accept them as signs of love from All-That-Is.

Another powerful way to feel the love is to begin appreciating yourself. Not only can you turn your attention to those physical parts of you that you can appreciate, but also the internal parts. Did your kindness or compliment make someone smile?

Or appreciate the things that you do. Is the garden you have been tending overflowing with beautiful flowers? Did you give yourself some time to read a book or get a workout in? Count all the things you can appreciate about yourself, and acknowledge and celebrate them.

As you grow the love you have for yourself, you grow the love you have to give to others. Truly, loving yourself enough to take care of you—body, mind, and spirit—is what gives you the physical and spiritual capital to spend on others.

What can you do today to let yourself feel loved? How can you make that a consistent practice? What difference would that make in your life—and the life of others?

Together we can do it!

Photo by Lindsay Miller