Prompt: “How can you replenish your (physical, mental, spiritual and/or emotional) resources? What do you need most of all at this moment?”

I know the answer to this, even as I resist it. Step one is to let go of my attachment to external permission or approval. I absolutely need to stop seeking what I need from “out there.” Even if everyone, every single human on the planet, supported and liked and agreed with what I was doing, it wouldn’t be the right reason for doing any of it. I have to trust myself, be myself. I have to stop polling the whole universe for some sort of consensus when I determine what to do next, how to spend my day, how to live my life. I need to stop abandoning myself.

I also need to find a balance between effort and ease, between what I offer and what I receive. Instead of denying myself, restricting and starving, I have to nourish myself too, make sure I am fed in every way that I am hungry. It’s not selfish. It’s necessary, essential. I can have a new bathroom. I’m allowed to buy new towels for said bathroom, even get rid of the old ones. I’m allowed to replace the throw blanket Ringo chewed holes in so I have something nice for myself when I take a nap or watch TV or read a book, things that I am allowed to do and to enjoy. I have the right to care for myself, to feed and to cherish myself. I can trust that choices made from this truth are a manifestation of love, and the world needs more of that, however it can get it.