"Enjoy Self, Love Self"

Last week, I had the profound honor of supporting Zhineng Qigong Master (Teacher) Wei's first-ever retreat in the United States at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California.

Next to Dr. Pang's calligraphy of the Hun Yuan Ling Tong Mantra

Like many spiritual journeys, I arrived carrying burdens—struggling with triggers of rejection, finding it difficult to regulate my nervous system, and often losing my center. I was finding it hard to rest for long in the "observer observes itself" mingjue or pure awareness state that is the foundation of our practice.

Little did I know that a teaching I'd heard dozens of times would suddenly click into place and transform my understanding of safety, trust, and freedom.

"Enjoy self, love self."

These simple words from Teacher Wei have been a constant refrain in his teachings. Yet sometimes the most profound wisdom needs to meet us at exactly the right moment, when we're truly ready to receive it. As I sat in the peaceful grounds of the Mercy Center, surrounded by fellow practitioners yet still wrestling with my internal storms, these four words finally unlocked something essential.

The Gateway of Enjoyment

What I've been playing with is a process, a pathway that begins with this fundamental instruction to "enjoy self, love self." When we're triggered or disconnected, self-love can feel impossibly distant. How do we bridge that gap?

The answer, I found, can begin in the body.

When I feel uncentered, my first step now is to intentionally find something—anything—to enjoy about being in this body, in this moment. It might be the comforting warmth of sunlight on my skin, the gentle expansion of my lungs as I breathe, or a warm feeling in my heart. There is always something available to enjoy through our sensorial experience, no matter how small.

Jennifer Posada, whose work deeply explores self-love, speaks to this embodied approach in her book "The Oracle Within." She describes self-love not as an abstract concept but as "a physical experience of delight in your own being." This resonates with what I've been exploring—that enjoyment creates a bridge to love, particularly when we direct that enjoyment inward.

"The body," Posada writes, "is not separate from the sacred—it is the very temple through which we experience it." When we find something to enjoy about our embodied experience, we open the door to genuine self-love.

From this state of enjoyment, the leap to loving myself becomes infinitely more accessible. And self-love isn't just a nice addition to our spiritual practice—it's the foundation upon which all healing and awakening must be built.

Trusting the Inner Compass

The second step in this process came as a revelation during Teacher Wei's retreat: trusting myself completely.

"I am mingjue trust."

Before the retreat, I caught myself seeking safety in external circumstances—being surrounded by loving people, controlling my environment, avoiding triggers. I was looking outward for what can only be found within. Teacher Wei spoke extensively about the critical importance of trust—trusting your healing process, trusting your body's wisdom, trusting the consciousness field and its infinite love for you.Most importantly, Teacher Wei emphasized trusting that you are exactly where you need to be, doing exactly what you need to do—even when you're not in your pure mingjue state.

What a relief this understanding brings! The path isn't about perfection; it's about trust.

I realized that true safety doesn't come from controlling my surroundings or ensuring everyone treats me kindly. It comes from an unshakable trust in myself. When I trust myself completely, I am always safe, no matter what external circumstances arise.

As Teacher Wei explained, from this place of self-trust, it simply doesn't matter if someone likes you or dislikes you, praises or criticizes you, accepts or rejects what you do. None of it threatens your safety when you're acting from your pure "baby heart" and trusting yourself completely.

The Blossoming of Freedom

The third step emerges naturally from this foundation of self-love and self-trust:

"I am mingjue freedom."

This is where the transformation happens. When we love ourselves genuinely and trust ourselves completely, we step into an infinite world of freedom—freedom from fixations, freedom from triggers, freedom from anything that would limit or control the expression of our true essence.

This understanding connects beautifully with the complete mingjue mantra, the mantra of the clear observer: "I am mingjue love, I am mingjue peace, I am mingjue happiness, I am mingjue gratitude." These aren't just affirmations; they're invitations to embody unconditional virtues that arise naturally in the pure awareness state.

Integration

The three-step process I've been practicing—enjoy self/love self, trust self, and access freedom—creates a pathway from our separate self to our connected essence and back again.

The gift of this practice is that it begins wherever we are. Even in our most triggered, disconnected moments, we can find something to enjoy about our embodied experience. From that enjoyment springs self-love. From self-love emerges self-trust. And from self-trust blossoms freedom—the freedom to be our most authentic selves.

If our purpose as humans here on earth is to become the truest expression of our essence, then finding this freedom isn't just beneficial—it's essential.

In the words of Howard Thurman, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Coming alive—truly alive—can begin with those simple words: enjoy self, love self.

And from there, anything is possible.

Haola!