“When love awakens in your life, in the night of your heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before in your life there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with your self. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning.”
This love that O’Donohoe refers to isn’t necessarily love for someone else, but love for yourself. Ask any person who has lived through depression how they feel the day that it lifts. There is a sense that the raging storm inside your heart and mind have ended, and the warmth of the sun starts to peek through the clouds. The warmth starts to melt away that rigidity we feel when we are afraid of our own shadows. As the fear melts away, the flow of grace returns and through you washes a sense of self-appreciation that had been missing during the dark days of your despair.
As my depression lifted, I could feel the shift not only in my mind and heart, but also in my body. Depression brings about both mental and physical symptoms. The feelings of self-doubt, anger and hatred wage war not only on your psyche, but on your body. The first morning I woke up and noticed that I no longer felt pain in my low back, tightness in my chest, or pain in my neck was glorious! I had lived with the pain for quite some time and constantly felt like my body was beginning to betray me (along with my psyche).
When I began to make friends with myself, I awakened the ability to self-heal. As I started to love myself again, I welcomed back love from others as well. When we allow love into our lives, both from ourselves and from others, we are in greater harmony with the world. Just as the sun heats the world, love is the light of the heart that clears the darkness of fear from the soul.
Today, see if you can tell yourself you are worth seeing the dawn of a new day.
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