{"id":1641,"date":"2013-05-16T06:57:03","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T10:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/awakeintheworld\/?p=1641"},"modified":"2013-05-16T06:57:03","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T10:57:03","slug":"looking-for-love-maybe-its-time-to-marry-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/awakeintheworld\/2013\/05\/looking-for-love-maybe-its-time-to-marry-yourself.html","title":{"rendered":"Looking For Love? Maybe It&#8217;s Time to Marry Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you think that you need someone else to make you happy? Why not marry yourself instead? Nadine Schweigert, a woman in South Dakota who had been through a divorce created a wedding ceremony to marry herself. If that sounds strange to you, then maybe you\u2019ve never abandoned your true Self. But if you\u2019re like me you may have found yourself in relationships where you separated from your authentic Self to please others and make them happy. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/~\/media\/8D21D59A651445BBB0538F50C81576F4.ashx?w=400&amp;h=300&amp;bg=00000000&amp;f=png\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/>Self-betrayal is no way to have a healthy relationship with anyone. So the woman in South Dakota invited a small group of friends and family to join her in a celebration of vows to herself. The vows included a commitment to love, respect and cherish her Self.<\/p>\n<p>How often do we think we need someone else to love us to be happy when what really need is to make the big steps to care for, nurture, and love ourselves? This kind of Self love is not the narcissistic kind that focuses on taking care of selfish pleasures. It\u2019s about going deep and learning to give the kind of love that we yearn for from others to ourselves. When we marry our Self and develop the relationship between our self and that higher, Divine Self, that wise Self will guide and dance with us. Life becomes magical and alive with synchronicity. It may not always be easy, but Nadine says that through kindness to herself she lost 50 pounds and stopped drinking.<\/p>\n<p>If you were to fall in love with your Self and write a love letter, what would that look and feel like? I challenge you to at least begin to look at yourself with eyes of kindness that look for and develop your qualities. Why not give your Self a hug and say, \u201cI do\u201d?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Register to win copy of Debra\u2019s new book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/giveaway\/show\/45733-garden-of-bliss-cultivating-the-inner-landscape-for-self-discovery?auto_login_attempted=true&amp;auto_login_attempted=true\">Garden of Bliss on Goodreads<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Copyright Debra Moffitt, May 2013.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong> Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Awake-World-Practices-Divinely-Inspired\/dp\/0738727229\" target=\"_blank\">Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life<\/a> and \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Garden-Bliss-Cultivating-Landscape-Self-Discovery\/dp\/0738733822\">Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery<\/a>\u201d (Llewellyn Worldwide, May 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she\u2019s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.awakeintheworld.com\">http:\/\/www.awakeintheworld.com<\/a> and on Facebook at: <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you think that you need someone else to make you happy? Why not marry yourself instead? Nadine Schweigert, a woman in South Dakota who had been through a divorce created a wedding ceremony to marry herself. If that sounds strange to you, then maybe you\u2019ve never abandoned your true Self. But if you\u2019re like&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4,26,125,3,92],"tags":[346,345,1139,872,858,1018,1138,525,524],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-inspiration","category-meditation","category-oneness","category-spiritual-practice","category-unconditional-love","tag-awake-in-the-world","tag-debra-moffitt","tag-finding-bliss-in-relationship-to-self","tag-garden-of-bliss","tag-love","tag-marriage","tag-saying-i-do-to-your-self","tag-self-love","tag-unconditional-love-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Looking For Love? 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