A beacon of strength, wisdom, and altruism, Wonder Woman has inspired women across the globe. More than ever before, we need strong female role models– exemplified by the recent box office hit, which earned more than $700 million worldwide opening weekend! W.O.W

We long to believe that the power of good will prevail over bad— which is evident with the success of this female-led super hero movie. We want to feel strong and confident in our decisions and who we are, like Wonder Woman, right?

However, let’s be honest: we’ve all had experiences and situations in our lives where we’ve gotten hurt and then, without even realizing it, set up Fort Knox to protect our hearts. At the time that may have served us well and kept us feeling safe, but if we really want love, we’ve got to have the courage to knock down those walls and let the old stories go.

So, how can we be the heroine of our own life?

We can put on our Wonder Woman suit and protect ourselves from the part of us that plays the villainess in our mind – the part who tries to take us down when we aren’t looking. Too often, the lack of deep love in our lives comes from a lack of self-love and self-compassion. We can be incredibly hard on ourselves.

And when we start going into the underworld those meanies in our mind get really loud: “I’m not good enough, I’m worthless.” “I’m not interesting enough.” “I’m too old – who would want me?” And, we may set ourselves up with goalposts almost impossible to achieve. Millions of people suffer from insecurity, anxiety, and depression, and much of this is due to self-judgment, to beating ourselves up when we feel we aren’t measuring up.

To me, a heroine is a woman who is brave enough to love herself completely.  Because, the truth is, only you hold the power to transform your life—to drive out the pockets of darkness, moments of insecurities, doubts, or fears that may be holding you back from living joyfully and authentically. And, everyone deserves to live a life filled with love and loving connections.

How can we intentionally create and experience more love?

Although many of us look for love on the outside, the path to love really begins inside. This quote by Lucille Ball is a longtime favorite of mine: “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”

So what’s the answer?

When you feel safe with yourself—knowing you can set protective boundaries that honor you – you’ll start to show up like Wonder Woman – full of strength and confidence and a loving heart. Others will be drawn to you with an open heart. The darkness in your life will have been replaced by the light of Truth—old patterns of thinking, beliefs, or habits that may be distracting you from a sparkling life will be gone – poof! 

At the end of the movie, Wonder Woman talks about how it’s not what you deserve—good or bad—but it’s about what you believe in, and she believes in love. In that moment, the light of love—her faith—literally obliterates the darkness.

Stop judging and evaluating ourselves altogether. Stop trying to label ourselves as “good” or “bad” and simply accept ourselves with an open heart. Treat ourselves with the same kindness, caring, love and compassion we would show to a good friend. Love yourself to overcome those dark spots, fears, doubts, worries, so that you can have a strength like Wonder Woman. When you believe in love anything is possible.

Likewise, you will attract people who will treat you with love and respect because you will not stand for anything less.

Love is one of those things that it’s so expansive and infinite in nature; we will never have “too much” of it. We can only acquire more. Which is kind of the whole point, isn’t it? Here’s to healing and receiving all of life’s blessings and love!