As the light faded on a Wednesday evening last summer, I took a few self-portraits. I played with different angles and looks into the camera as the timer beeped. There was even a moment of laughter as I began to simply have fun. But then when I looked through the photos on the camera, I was so distracted by my arms and my tired eyes and…how the list goes on. So I put my camera straight in front of me, closed my eyes, and focused on filling my whole body with love and compassion. I took several breaths just imagining this compassion and love moving throughout my body. Then, while the timer beeped, I looked into the camera imagining I was looking at someone with only love (imagining the look my heart needed in that moment).
Later, when I looked through the photos, I noticed that my thoughts were softer. I saw beauty and a woman taking the time to just be in her life. I saw truth and realness and some wild, maybe even gorgeous, hair. And then I came to this photo and saw a woman choosing to love herself.
Interesting how all the other stuff melts away when you let love fill the cracks.
Try it.
I dare you.
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Liz Lamoreux is a retreat host, teacher, author of Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media, and the artist behind the shop Soul Mantras and Other Stories. She believes that we heal each time we unearth our stories and share them through creativity and in community. And in this moment, she is probably singing in her studio as she listens to Paul Simon’s Graceland album and her one-year-old daughter plays with books and fabric scraps beside her, or maybe she is practicing what she teaches and they are both taking a nap.