Hot Pink YOUniversity

What Does it Mean to Self-Love " Hot Pink Style "? February....ahhh, the month of love.   Relying on the one you love to pull through for you in a big way.   The right flowers, the right dinner, the right card.   It's a lot of pressure! But what about self-love ?   Loving yourself regardless of external things.   Regardless if the right card, flower, or dinner is in your life.   Regardless of whether you are in a relationship with someone or not.   Self-love is that internal, gushy feeling that gives you confidence and the voice of positivity in your head. Loving yourself is required for life's sometimes bumpy road.   It is easy to do when life is smoothly moving along and the people around you are doing oh-so-well.   More difficult when things get rocky.   How do you love yourself when someone else is telling you not to?   Or, when you make a blunderous mistake?   Or, when the external things you relied on to af...

Authored by:  Christie Bemis I wrote this on the Saturday before Mother's Day and wanted to share this as we leave spring and move into summer.   I am hoping it will inspire you! As this Mother's Week wraps up...yes, you read that right....in my home I lovingly refer to the week before Mother's Day as Mother's week, I am basking in the glory of being a mom.   Last night, my son and I went to a concert together. Today, my daughter and I will spend some quality time together, a bike ride or a snuggle with a movie....we will see what the weather allows.   And, tomorrow, I will wake up and wait and wait and wait, listening to the noises of my kids in the kitchen making me crepes with strawberries and banana foster topping.   And....yes, there's more, there will be the perfect gift and dinner on the grill. So, how did this magic   happen?   Are my kids just exceptional?   Did they get some kind of bizarre gene that included Mother'...

Radical S elf-Love:  Part Four of Four Photograph by Christie Gause-Bemis   Imagine being asked out on a date with that one person in your life you are most excited to share your time with.   The anticipation, the thought put into your hair, your make-up, your outfit and your attitude, your personal pep-talk.   Now, imagine that date is with yourself....who more important to primp and prep for? When I turned 29, it was a milestone for me.   One more foot towards 30; but, more importantly, I was now older than my big sister.   She passed away the day after her 29th birthday party after a long battle with brain cancer, and here I was, alive and grateful.   I always wanted a surprise birthday party and remembered the one we had given my sister for her 29th.   I wondered, who, if anyone, would ever give me a surprise birthday party.   I know, a weird dream from childhood.   I decided that year, "why wait?".   Why wait f...

Part Three of Four Parts on Radical Self-Love Give Yourself the Gift of Forgiveness I once did something in my life so bad, so unforgiving...even just thinking back to it, makes me shudder and ask myself, "What the hell was I thinking?!"   I mean, this behavior was so against my values, my philosophy of life, that it bolted me out of self-love into self-loathing for quite some time...won't even share what it is...that's how bad! We've all done some things in life that when we look back at the video of our lives...it makes us want to block that little chunk out.   Or, maybe we react with rationalization or justification to our deed, "Well, he....", "Well, I did that, but what she did was so much worse." or "I wouldn't have done that if....." .   Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to just admit our mistake, ask for forgiveness and move on.   Time heals all wounds...even the wounds we create.   People do move o...