Why we should love ourselves before loving other people

Something you need to remember is that you are the most important person in your life, even if you think so or not. You can not love other people without loving yourself, and here I will tell you why. Dalai Lama said: "We cannot talk about compassion in the absence of auto-compassion", and he is right, because, ignoring our own needs, we are willing to forget the needs of the people we supposedly care about, entering an obsessive race for a certain result, that in reality is never under our control.

What we have under control is the acceptance of he fact that none of us had a perfect childhood, and the way we succeed to process and understand what happened and that it doesn't define us is more important than what actually happened.

Years ago, when I was geting acquainted with the work of Berne Brown, one of her quotes caught my interest: "...We can't practice compassion with other people if we can't treat ourselves kindly."

At that time I thought that self love is a sign of narcissism and arrogance. Today, after years of living in this interesting little world of ours I understood that any trial of making people respect us without us respecting ourselves is vain. Why would someone respect me if I don't even respect myself? With what right do I give people something I don't even give myself?

Everyone is worth loving, even you and I, so if you haven't started to love yourself yet, now is the moment to do so. And if you think this is another stupid and cheap message, like most unconscious adults and like I did many years, it is essential to know that self-acceptance and self-love are an act of courage, in a world where we can't really understand the difference between being full of yourself and loving yourself.

Try your best to accept your emotions and acknowledge your emotions. Try to understand that they are a part of you and that isn't always a bad thing, but don't let them take over your body and mind.

I changed my mind only after I have read "The invisible child" by Gaspar György, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, author, which is about the relationships we have with our children, but it is just perfect for people who struggle with anxiety, but unfortunately, the book is only available in Romanian.

This has been everything for this week, and remember: WE can change the world!