Research God

Love yourself

The most important relationship you will ever have is your
relationship with yourself.

What you manifest in your life is directly related to the value and
worth you place on yourself, so how you see yourself is critical to
your evolution as a soul.

Only people who love themselves can truly love others. So, loving
others starts with being able to love YOURSELF unconditionally.

Learning to love yourself is very good practice for learning to love
others.

It is very difficult to follow the Golden Rule if you do not love
yourself. If you are hard on yourself, it is very likely that you will
be hard on others, so practice being gentle and compassionate
with yourself.

Loving yourself unconditionally requires that you forgive yourself
for what you think are your weaknesses and mistakes. If you
cannot forgive yourself, how will you be able to forgive others,
and love them as God intended?

Loving yourself includes taking care of your physical body by
resisting addictions such as drugs, alcohol, food and unloving (or
lustful) sex. You should also respect your body and protect it
from reckless and harmful activities. Your body temporarily
houses your soul; look after it!

Loving yourself sometimes involves protecting yourself from
physical or mental abuse. You cannot love others effectively if
you allow yourself to be abused.

Loving yourself does not mean that you are selfish, arrogant or
conceited. Loving yourself means that you have a positive self
image and you accept yourself for who you are. You are honest
with yourself, and you are true to your values. At the same time,
you know that you are not perfect, and that you need to learn to
love unconditionally.

You, yourself, as much as
anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Every decision you make, stems
from what you think you are and
represents the value you put
upon yourself.
"A Course in Miracles", ACIM

People who truly love themselves
do not become destructively self-
centered. They do not abuse
others. They do not stop growing
and changing. People who love
themselves well, learn to love
others well too. They continually
grow into healthier people,
learning that their love was
appropriately placed.
Melody Beattie, The Language of
Letting Go

He that cannot forgive others,
breaks the bridge over which he
must pass himself; for every man
has a need to be forgiven.
Lord Herbert

I really see no other solution than
to turn inwards and to root out
all the rottenness there. I no
longer believe that we can
change anything in the world
until we first change ourselves.
Etty Hillesum (concentration
camp victim)

People were finally learning that
only those who love themselves
can love others, that only people
who claim their own voice can
hear the true song of another.
Elizabeth Lesser

Never confuse your mistakes
with your value as a human
being. You're a perfectly
valuable, creative, worthwhile
person simply because you exist.
And no amount of triumphs or
tribulations can ever change
that. Unconditional self-
acceptance is the core of a
peaceful mind.
St. Francis de Sales

I plan to stand by nonviolence,
because I have found it to be a
philosophy of life that regulates
not only my dealings in the
struggle for racial justice, but
also my dealings with people, and
with my own self.
Martin Luther King Jr.

When you know that you are
eternal you can play your true
role in time. When you know you
are divine you can become
completely human. When you
know you are one with God you
are free to become absolutely
yourself.
Mother Meera

Don't compromise yourself. You
are all you've got.
Janis Joplin

There is always a certain peace
in being what one is, in being
that completely.
Ugo Betti

One of the greatest dangers in
the spiritual life is self-rejection.
When we say, "If people really
knew me, they wouldn't love
me," we choose the road toward
darkness. Often we are made to
believe that self-deprecation is a
virtue, called humility. But
humility is in reality the opposite
of self-deprecation. It is the
grateful recognition that we are
precious in God's eyes and that
all we are is pure gift. To grow
beyond self-rejection we must
have the courage to listen to the
voice calling us God's beloved
sons and daughters, and the
determination always to live our
lives according to this truth.
Henri Nouwen

Self-love seems so often
unrequited.
Anthony Powell

You cannot be lonely if you like
the person you’re alone with.
Wayne Dyer

If we really love ourselves,
everything in our life works.
Louise L. Hay

What you think about yourself is
much more important than what
others think of you.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca

Spiritual practices help us to loosen the grip of the ego-self and to
connect to the true-Self, so that we can live purposefully, be of
service and participate in love. The central Biblical injunction to
"Love your neighbor as yourself" is usually interpreted to mean that
we must learn to love others, with the assumption that we already
that you love yourself." In other words, we will love another to the
extent and in the way that we love ourselves. If you are harsh with
yourself, you will be harsh with others. If you can not forgive
yourself, you can not forgive others. In this way, this line is not a
commandment, but is a statement of fact. The truth is that most of
us do not love ourselves very well, and consequently we hurt others.
This is why spiritual practices so often seek to teach us how to love
ourselves, so that we can better love others. Real love naturally
flows in two directions.
Rabbi Alan Lurie

The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love,
which includes not only others but ourselves as well.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

He that respects himself is safe from others.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love
yourself.
Josh Billings

If you aren't good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time
loving anyone, since you'll resent the time and energy you give
another person that you aren't even giving to yourself.
Barbara De Angelis

It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which
ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted,
that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very
being is good stuff.
Fred Rogers

Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave
'em all over everything you do.
Elvis Presley

The supreme act of forgiveness is when you can forgive yourself for
all the wounds you've created in your own life. Forgiveness is an act
of self-love. When you forgive yourself, self-acceptance begins and
self-love grows.
Don Miguel Ruiz

Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability
to love.
Erich Fromm

People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will
change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the
world.
Michael Josephson

Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to seek and find all the
barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Rumi, thirteenth century Sufi poet

Our doubts are traitors and makes us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare

Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we have learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment – or unlearning – of fear
and the acceptance of love back into our hearts. Love is…our
ultimate reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware
of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of
life.
Marianne Williamson

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-
esteem, the more likely one will treat others with respect, kindness,
and generosity. People who do not experience self-love have little or
no capacity to love others.
Nathaniel Branden

Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell.
Bill Copeland