Unless you truly love yourself, you will struggle in life. Why? Because we are social beings, and our relationships with others depend on how deep our self-love is. Most parents would say that children need both love and structure. This is the essence of self-love too.
The love we share with others is the love we feel towards ourselves.
I would like to celebrate self-love today. This is what the quality of our life depends on. All other kinds of love, except for family love, come and go. Love is so powerful and can be limitless. Unfortunately, love without self-love can be extremely destructive, as many of us have found out at some point of our life. Being stuck in unfulfilling relationships, sometimes even abusive, constant mood swings and uncertainty.
“The love we share with others is the love we feel towards ourselves”, said Tamara Levitt in the mindfulness session I took this morning via Calm (a mindfulness app I would highly recommend). I find this quote really helpful in trying to understand what love actually is.
I won’t attempt trying to define love today though. I do want to share with you what it means for me. I view it as a combination of beliefs, feelings and behaviours. If you love yourself, you can say these to yourself and confidently, and make an effort to practise them every day.
I’m glad you are here.
I see you.
You’re special to me.
I respect you.
I’ll make time for you.
You can turn for help to me.
Your needs are important to me.
I will keep you safe.
You can rest in me.
You brighten my heart.
Remember being loved doesn’t mean that you need a partner to complete you. You already are complete. And if you can’t feel it, spend some time exploring why and what you can do about it. We can learn or discover self-love. It takes time and effort, like anything worth doing in our life.
Remember being loved doesn’t mean that you need a partner to complete you. You already are complete.
It’s interesting that love and a sense of belonging are right in the middle of Maslov’s hierarchy of human needs. Can we survive without love? It seems so. Can we thrive without it? Not as healthy individuals.
