Challenge 1: Write Yourself a Love Poem

I  have a challenge for you internet. I want you to write a love poem to yourself as though you were another person. I want you to look at yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you so much all your flaws melt into perfect imperfections. You don't have to share it, but I want you to do it. If you can't, ask people who love you for ideas to expand on.

There is a difference between humility and treating yourself like dirt, and I see very little humility among my peers. What I see is self-hate and a bunch of people desperately seeking some kind of proof as to whether they are as beautiful as they wish to be or as ugly as they fear they are.

It's time to bare our souls to ourselves and force ourselves to see their beauty. It's time to learn how to love ourselves so that we can truly love each other purely and not out of a desperation to fill holes inside of us. We need to fill those holes ourselves.

This is the first in a series of challenges I plan to put forth in the hope that some of the things I've learned can help my peers, and that they in turn can expand on them and teach me too. I am far from the end of my journey to peace. I am even farther from perfect, and I don't claim to be any sort of guru. However, I have uncovered some realities that have brought my world into a dramatically sharper focus and helped me reach levels of peace and emotional self-reliance I never thought I could possibly reach. I want to share them.

So, bear with me, try these ideas if you want to, and please share. This world needs more love, and just like charity starts at home, love starts within.

Thanks guys  Tyler

I love you. 

I love you because you smell like summertime and feel like rose petals. 

I love the way you give yourself so willingly to love that your entire body melts into every embrace, softly, like your heart has never been broken even though it's been shattered a hundred times. 

I love the way your hair shines red in the sun, glistens black in the moonlight, and flows long and soft as silk down your back. 

I love how you laugh long and loud and hard, no matter who can hear you. 

I love how you breath the rain in just as deeply as the sun so you can squeeze every drop of beauty out of every second of life you get. 

I love how your eyes can be soft and warm as fall leaves, or sharp and cruel as burning bronze. 

I love how you never wear a mask, how your genuine personality with all it's sassy spunk, all its awkward sweetness, all its boundless silliness, and all its raw honesty is as immediately visible as your face. 

I love that your loyalty, your compassion, your capacity to forgive, and your ability to love are almost bottomless. 

I love your ability to see the light in the darkest moments, the beauty in the most broken people, and the sweetness in the wickedness of life. 

I love who you are. You're beautiful in every way, in all your perfect imperfections, and you are worthy of love, respect, and forgiveness. 

I love you.