"Loving Yourself"

Sounds funny, doesn't it? And yet, it's one of the most important things we have to learn in life. Why? Because most of our problems are due to the fact that most of us may not know how to truly love ourselves. People who don't love themselves are always looking for someone to love them, and going out of their way to try to please others - even if what they have to do to please them is inappropriate, demeaning or simply the wrong thing to do. Since they don't know how to love themselves, they settle for anything - scraps of what they think is love. They attract people who don't love themselves and that make their lives miserable.

Mary Blige said the following in the "Parade Magazine" of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “I had no self-respect. I was depending on others to make me feel good, but they hated themselves too. You always attract people who are just like you… I was miserable…”

To be able to heal…“I decided to forgive all the people who had hurt me and to forgive and love myself… If you don’t forgive, you’re not going to be able to move on. You’ll be stuck in hatred and bitterness, meditating on all the hurt, probably dying from all the bitterness bottled up inside you. I let it go. I began to trust and have faith. I began to love myself. I moved on.”

When you learn to love yourself, you’ll find people that really care about you and love you for who you are; people that won’t use you or abuse you because you learn to be strong and stand by your principles. You find the power to say NO when you have to; because you value and respect yourself. You won’t allow others to disrespect you. You don’t need to be around people who put you down and make you feel bad; people who ask you to do the wrong thing all the time, people who hate themselves…

So, learn to love yourselves, to be strong, to have faith. Only then will you attract the right people in your lives; only then, will you find happiness - because you won't settle for anything less. Recognize when you're allowing others to mistreat you, to make you feel bad, to put you down and don't allow this to happen anymore. Be confident that you know what is right for you and follow your heart.

“The very best thing you can do for the whole world is to make the most of yourself…” Wallace D. Wattles