The Heart's Illumination: A Guide to Loving Yourself

Previously

…The thought was strangely comforting, a surrender to the inevitable. I was about to finally give up, to admit defeat and embrace the cozy embrace of mediocrity, when my gaze fell upon a forgotten corner of my bookshelf. Tucked away behind a stack of dusty novels was a book. It was old, its cover a faded, almost iridescent blue, with no title visible. I’d never noticed it before. Curiosity, a flicker of something other than despair, nudged me. Maybe, just maybe, there was another way. A way that didn’t involve tasting lawn clippings or declaring myself a goddess in the mirror. A way that felt less like a performance and more like… well, something else entirely.