Look in the Mirror and Say “I Choose You!”

“I got a whole lot of life to live

and I want you to always be a part of it,

I choose you.”

Barcelona, “I Choose You”

“I Choose You” is a hauntingly beautiful new song by Seattle rock trio Barcelona. The song has been piercing my soul for about 24 hours now. It’s a typical love song sang by boy to girl. But this morning as it was playing I chose to stand in front of my mirror and sing the above to myself. As I sang the words “I choose you,” I pointed at myself in the mirror. It was an exercise in self-acceptance and self-love.

The ability to love others has only one prerequisite: We must first love ourselves. We must first choose to be on our own side. Before we can choose to make someone else important in our lives, we must first choose to make ourselves important in our lives. No other person can provide us with self-acceptance and self-love. We must look in the mirror and say to ourselves “I choose you.” I choose to like you, I choose to accept you just as you are, I choose to be your friend, I choose to be on your team and I choose to love you.

We all have a lot of life to live. To really live it, we have to choose to be on our side, to be the best thing that has ever happened to us. We have to want ourselves to always be the most important part of our lives. Once we choose to be for us—and stop being against us—we will realize just how much life there is for us to live and how wonderful it can be. We will attract more of the right people into our lives. And eventually, we will be able to say “I choose you” to someone else who compliments our lives.