When you are feeling down, in a negative place, sincerely look at the relationship you have with yourself. Do you like yourself? Are you happy with yourself? Are you proud of yourself? Are you being genuine with yourself? That is the only relationship that matters. Not what everyone thinks about you. Only what you think about yourself.
When you don’t love yourself, you are constantly attacking yourself. Judging everything, every word you say is awkward and forced, every action is weak, every thought is wrong. You end up doing things from a place of fear. You are self-defeating. You feel small and weak. Even if everyone around you loves you, and all the evidence says you are successful and popular, you will still feel unhappy if you don’t love yourself. It will all be fake and you will feel empty, trying to fill it with external love. The only love that is real is love for yourself. Only then can you give love.
From here on out, be true to yourself. Fear not what others will think of you, as long as you smile and are happy with yourself. You come from a place of love when you are real with others, even if it might be deemed impolite or not socially acceptable, people will appreciate the realness, rather than the faked kindness. When you really love someone and are connected with them, you don’t fake kindness around them. You respect them enough and feel unguarded enough to be real.
Do things that make you happy. Just answer to yourself. Don’t worry about others. You can’t make them happy anyways. Love yourself. Ask yourself, am I doing this because it is what I want? Am I happy with it as an end, as opposed to a means? Am I doing it to fit into a preconceived notion of myself? Or is it really me, what makes me smile, irregardless of who people think I am?
Your every thought should be one of love for yourself. Be kind and gentle to yourself. You’ve been so kind and gentle to others, so forgiving of their mistakes, but so harsh and unforgiving of your own. Always shower yourself with loving thoughts. You cannot accept the love of others until you accept your own love. If you hate yourself, then when others give you love, you will feel guilty and unworthy of their love. If you love yourself, then you can love others.
Start a love relationship with your true self. Not your ego or your external self image. That is something you do if you seek others’ approval. I’m talking about loving that feeling of being and aliveness inside – in the seat of your being where creativity, spontaneity, joy and love reside. Don’t close that part out of fear. When it gives you a spark, make it your priority, and set aside the distractions of life. You will find that when you love yourself, you will find yourself, because that is what you are… you are pure love.
