What Self-Love Really Means

Mindful editor-in-chief Heather Hurlock explores how calling in our communities both near and far is an essential part of deepening into self-love and gratitude.

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Every now and then, and less often than appropriate, I realize how grateful I am to help produce Mindful magazine. I’ve been on a healing journey most of my life. It’s been messy. And clarifying. And hard. I joke with my friends that I make the magazine that I need to read at the moment, but that’s not far from the truth.

It’s my privilege to humbly call in a community of big, wise hearts—who are out there in the world, illuminating the edges of where the practice of mindfulness meets the sharp points of broken systems and battered spirits—and ask them questions about what they’re learning right now, so we can all learn it, too.

Learning to Love Yourself

As the founders of the Holistic Life Foundation say, “Learning to love yourself is the work of a lifetime.” That’s not a call to pamper yourself as a distraction from the hard moments of your life. Self-love means learning how to meet the pain of the world with kindness and with healthy boundaries. It means standing in the fire of your own suffering, and of those you care about, with an open…