Understanding Self Love

The shift in spiritual perspective in recent years has rung the repetitive message of "Self Love" amongst so many of us.

And like every concept, value and rules we set up, when those have not matured enough, when they have not been all encompassing, we tend to swing from one extreme to the other.

As people coming from one of the darkest times humanity has seen, we have been bombarded with messages of conformity, self degradation and unnecessary sacrifice until most of us felt miserable.

Then we had a look at those of us who seemed happier and found out that they were genuine, authentic, and truly cared for and loved themselves. This indicator meant that we understood collectively, that loving yourself, taking care of yourself, is both necessary and noble.

Unfortunately, in the process, many of us misunderstood Self love to be indulgence, insensitivity and being free from responsibility and consequence.

Self love is not about being entitled or righteous. When you find that you are in a state of paranoia about "me" and "them", know that you have been led astray. When your thoughts are based on choosing "me" over "them" because I love "me" then know that you have not yet slipped from the grip of the ego.

This state clearly is faulty for the simple reason that it does not feel good. When you look at another and cannot see that you are one you remain in the realm of illusion. You have simply shifted your illusion from thinking that you are unworthy of love, to thinking that others are unworthy of love.

Self love is about knowing who the Self is: an infinite being connected to all there is, and Love: feelings of compassion, kindness and peace. There is nothing that you are taking from others that you are giving yourself, for the pain of harming others wil harm you. Nor is there anything that you are taking from yourself that you can give others, for if you are harmed, so are they.

Self love is about having no discrimination between my soul and yours. It is about looking at ourselves with as much humour and lightheartedness as we observe our own faults as we do in others.

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