To love and To Care - Part 2

Davidson and Lucy have been close friends for years. They are in love, but they could not express their feelings to each other.

Davidson realized that the reason he was afraid to be in a relationship was because he had no idea how to take care of himself around others. He was completely losing himself in an important relationship. He realized that if he could not speak up for himself with Lucy, how could he ever speak up and take loving action for himself with a woman he was in love with? He realized that he would continue to feel lonely, anxious, inadequate and depressed until he learned to take loving action for himself.

Many people suffer daily from anxiety, depression, stress, and anger as well as from feelings of guilt, shame and inadequacy. The major cause of these feelings is a lack of loving action in their own behalf.

LOVING ACTIONS

Loving actions are those actions that attend to your one’s needs. When you take loving action, you are letting yourself know that you matter, you are important, you count. When you fail to take loving actions, you give yourself the message that you are not important, which leads to feelings of depression and inadequacy.

Loving actions include:

· Eating nutritious foods, getting rid of junk foods and sugar, eating when hungry and quitting when full.

· Getting enough exercise.

· Keeping your work and home environments clean and organized.

· Getting enough sleep.

· Creating a balance between work and play. Making sure you have time to get your work done, as well as time to do nothing, reflect, learn, play and create.

· Creating a good support system of people who love and care about you.

· Being organized with your time, getting places on time, paying bills on time, and so on.

· Choosing to be compassionate with yourself rather than judgmental toward yourself.

· Creating a balance between time for yourself and time with others.

· Making sure you are physically safe by wearing a seat belt in a car, a helmet on a motorcycle, scooter, or bike, goggles when necessary, and so on.

As a result of learning to take better care of himself alone and with others, Davidson no longer felt depressed and inadequate. He gradually lost his fears of being in a relationship and is delighted to be meeting the available woman.