Step 1 • We admitted we had forgotten how to love ourselves without conditions, and as a result, our lives became unmanageable.

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”   

– Buddha

Our compulsive habits kept us denying our real needs to the point our lives became unmanageable. Some of us got angry when our needs were not met, but our insatiable needs and desires could never be met as long as we didn’t love ourselves. 

We subconsciously believed we were only lovable if certain conditions were met, like if we were smart, successful, had money, good looks, the right color skin, the right sex or sexual orientation, many friends, and a partner who loves us.  When we had problems with meeting these conditions, we judged our life and ourselves as not good enough. 

Our relentless self criticism of “not being good enough in various ways” caused us to feel overwhelmed and depressed, and this motivated us to compulsively use a substance or behavior to medicate and numb out our painful feelings of low self esteem. 

The pain of judging ourselves and others for our problems became so extreme, to protect ourselves from more pain, we denied our compulsive habit was a problem. 

Furthermore, many of us were raised to believe we are guilty sinners, selfish egos,  a burden to our families, or just wasteful consumers taking up too much space on the planet.

We forgot our inherent goodness, as it seemed bad things happened to us to make us feel and believe we were bad. 

Some of us even believed our life wasn’t worth living.

We forgot our life is sacred, regardless of our circumstances.

Today, we are here to remember the Great Loving Spirit of Life surrounds us and is our very own precious essence. 

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are Spiritual Beings having a human experience. 

We are divine souls made in the image and likeness of our Loving Creator.

Our conditions can change after we change our perspective of ourselves from falsehood to truth. 

Dear One, remember who you are. There is nothing wrong with you. Every baby was born precious, including you! Your life is a sacred gift from God. You are a blessing to the world. To free yourself of the spell of your past, repeat many times: 

I am a blessing to the world, just as I am. 

Some of us felt we had to exert a huge amount of effort just to exist. Others of us felt like we had to fight negative forces just to prove we had a right to be here. We did not realize the negative forces were mainly in our head; perhaps a repeating memory of a family member’s negative words or actions, that we internalized against ourselves.  

Whatever the cause, we had to stop paying attention to negative phenomena and re-claim our own sacred existence.

We needed to remember, the universe (God) is for us, not against us. 

You can allow yourself to experience a more safe and loving universe, by being more loving with yourself now. Between a scale of 1 and 10, how much do you believe the statement: “Life loves me.”  This number reflects how much you love yourself and how much you believe God loves you. Life is working for you to meet all your needs and more, if you will allow this. 

To attract what you need and much more, you first need to feel truly grounded and safe. The First Step invites you to be honest with yourself,  “Between 0 and 100 percent, How safe and grounded do you feel now?”

Might you have a compulsive habit that has helped you feel temporarily grounded, safe, and loved, but later leaves you feeling less grounded, less safe, and less loved? ” If  your answer is “Yes,” what other possible ways might you be able to feel more grounded, safe and loved?  How can you feel more grounded and safe in your home? … When you sleep at night?  While you work? 

Our unhealthy compulsive habits were cheap attempts to give ourselves the love we felt void of.  We did not know how to keep good company with ourselves and often harbored negative self criticism.  We certainly lacked the ability to nurture and care for our own needs.

Regardless of how far along you are in your recovery, the First Step reminds you of three essential truths:  

• You are not an addict or depressive. You are a perfect spiritual being having a challenging human experience.  You are not your mind (the habitual thoughts and beliefs that stream through your head). You are the one witnessing your thoughts, who can CHOOSE what you wish to think and do next. You are not a slave to your past habits and animalistic impulses. You are the powerful I AM Presence who CAN choose your life anew, even if you have believed otherwise before.  Say out loud now 3 times:
  
  “It’s MY Life!”
  
• You are a Soul, with the power of choice.  Remember the truth from those of us who got free:  As we awoke to the fact we are magnificent spiritual beings that get to choose our own thoughts, feelings and behavior,  we learned to replace our compulsive habits with self care habits.  Gradually, our compulsive habits lost their steam, and we eventually outgrew them altogether.  Keep coming, and you will rediscover your inner power.  
  
• You are not bad for your unhealthy thoughts and behaviors.  Your value does not come from what you think and do.  Spiritually, we are all equally valuable and innocent.  Do we call a sick animal or tree bad for being ill? No.  Similarly, no human is bad for their mental imbalance and resulting negative behaviors.  They just need medicine and the opportunity to heal. In this case, the love you allow yourself to receive is from yourself and the Universe is the medicine that heals the pain. 

Your responsibility now is to practice loving yourself regardless of your conditions. Start with taking better care of your basic needs.You see, being out of trust with yourself, it is likely you have been making your life more hard and complicated than it needed to be.  Step 1 invites you to have a new relationship with yourself, starting with valuing your body. For example, if you re hungry, don’t wait until you get irritable. Eat a healthy meal. You deserve your own loving care.
 
How do you treat yourself? Have you been neglecting certain basic needs likehaving a healthy diet, breathing deeply, drinking pure water, working-out, and getting plenty of rest? Why take better care of yourself? Because you matter! You are a gift to the world. If you find this hard to believe, you do not really know yourself. You probably bought into other’s negative ideas about you, that you are a burden to the family, a religious sinner, a human ego full of issues, or a consumer taking up space.  No, no, no, … you are NOT just a human being.  You are a divine Soul having a human experience.  Regardless of what you are going through, your soul is innocent and beautiful. You are made of the most valuable thing known in our universe: Love. You are a loving blessing to the world. Step One invites you to clear your perception of not seeing your value and neglecting your needs, and to start treating yourself with utmost loving respect during every step of your Soul recovery..
Wake up and realize you are worthy of your own love.Your own physical, emotional, and mental health must come first before you can be much help for others.  Everyone – including you, deserve pure water and air, healthy food to eat, adequate clothes and shelter, and have a strong vibrant body. 

FIRST STEP ACTIVITIES

How can you take better care of your body? Are you eating enough fruit and vegetables?Are you getting enough physical exercise? Daily cleanliness and grooming are acts of self -esteem which can help you attract opportunities. You deserve to Feel Good in your body, and to feel beautiful or handsome. Decide to love what you see when you look in the mirror.

How can you feel more grounded, connected to the earth and yourself? What can you do to take better care of your human needs? Do you have enough money to pay all your bills and have a life? If not, what can you do differently to get your financial needs met in the coming days and weeks? What do you need to say “No” to, that distracts you from loving your life?  What do you need to say “Yes” to that demonstrates your self love in a new way.  What specific actions are you willing to commit to?  Would you like to be supported by a HRA participant with following through with your commitment to yourself?

AFFIRMATION

I am a blessing to the world, just as I am.