Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -Martin Luther King Jr
In the end, loving yourself is about enjoying your life, trusting your own feelings, taking chances, losing and finding happiness, cherishing the memories, and learning from the past. Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not exactly how you planned, but just how it’s meant to be.
Love conquers all, as they say. And while perhaps not always technically true, love certainly goes a long way to being nearly true. To recognize the centrality of love to living a happy life, just imagine a life lived without it.
The more love that beats in your heart, the happier and more buoyant your heart will be. The more you love life, the more life will love you back.
Love overlooks weakness and closes its eyes to idiosyncrasies. It accepts, seeks, and empowers what’s best in others. This is the road to travel.
TIPS OF BEING MORE LOVING TO YOUR-SELF
Get your priorities straight. Who/what has the most of you time in your life? Do you make yourself important, do you have the time you need for yourself – for relaxing, learning, developing, etc?
Take full responsibility. If you really want good things in your life to happen, you have to make them happen yourself. You can’t sit around and hope that somebody else will help you; you have to make your own future and not think that your destiny is tied to the actions and choices of others.
Know your worth. We often accept the love we think we de-serve. When someone treats you like you’re just one of many options, help them narrow their choice by removing yourself from the equation. Sometimes you have to try not to care, no matter how much you do. Because sometimes you can mean almost nothing to someone who means so much to you. It’s self-respect. Know your value and what you have to offer, and never settle for anything less than what you deserve.
Love you. Let someone love you just the way you are – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you sometimes feel, and as unaccomplished as you think you are. Yes, let someone love you despite all of this; and let that someone be YOU.
Accept your strength and weaknesses. Be confident being YOU. We often waste too much time comparing ourselves to others, and wishing to be something we’re not. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is only when we accept everything we are, and everything we aren’t, that we are able to become who we are capable of being.
Stand up for yourself. You were born to be real, not to be perfect. You’re here to be YOU, not to be what someone else wants you to be. Stand up for yourself, look them in the eye, and say, “Don’t judge me until you know me, don’t underestimate me until you challenge me, and don’t talk about me until you’ve talked to me.”
Learn from others and move on when you must. You can’t expect to change people. Either you accept who they are, or you start living your life without them. You lived, you learned, you grew, and you moved on. Some people come into your life as blessings; others come into your life as lessons.
Be honest in your relationships. Don’t cheat! If you’re not happy, be honest, and move on if you must. When you’re truly in love, being faithful isn’t a sacrifice, it’s a joy.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Life as we know it can change in a blink of an eye. It might feel a little uncomfortable at times, but know that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. So if you’re feeling uncomfortable right now, know that the change taking place in your life is not an ending, but a new beginning. As a passionate, inspired human being, the only challenge greater than learning to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, is learning to walk a lifetime comfortably in your own. Follow your heart, and take your brain with you. When you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not every-one will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.
Never give up on you. This is your life; shape it, or someone else will. Strength shows not only in the ability to hold on, but in the ability to start over when you must. It is never too late to become what you might have been. Keep learning, adapting, and growing. You may not be there yet, but you are closer than you were yesterday.
Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you. Accept yourself! Insecurity is what’s ugly, not you. Be you, just the way you are, in the beautiful way only you know how. The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others. You must love who you are or no one else will either. And when you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.
Care less about who you are to others. Don’t lose YOU in your search for acceptance by others. Be aware that you will always appear to be a little less than some people prefer you to be, but that most people are unaware that you are so much more then what they see. You are good enough just the way you are. You have nothing to prove to anyone else. Care less about who you are to others and more about who you are to yourself.
Believe in the person you are capable of being. The real purpose of your life is to evolve and grow into the whole person you are capable of being. Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Change really is always possible – there is no ability that can’t be developed with experience. Don’t ever let your negative beliefs stand in the way of your own improvement.
Finally, remember that …
Self-love is like a ‘twisted’ ROM-COM. The protagonists are one and the same person: Me and Myself. Through the hilarious journey of seeking and finding, it is ME who falls in love with Me.
TRUE LOVE doesn’t take prisoners. LOVE is never about another person. No one can love you the way you can love yourself. Love of another always comes with a baggage, it is never unconditional. But SELF-LOVE is ultimately finding your SOUL-MATE. YOU ARE YOUR OWN SOUL-MATE. No person can fill the void you call ‘longing for being loved’. Your lover can support you in your challenges by learning to love you the way you like to be loved, but s/he can never fill your Well!
Self-pity is NOT self-love. Self-love is embracing and empowering. With our love for ourselves we accept all our flaws and mistakes, we embrace ourselves just as we are without the need to change anything at all about ourselves. In this total acceptance we ensure ourselves that ‘NO MATTER WHAT I AM HERE FOR YOU, YOU CAN RELY ON ME!’. We communicate that we are strong and capable of handling any hurdle in life.
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