Reflections

Our society has been promoting self-love and the idea of putting yourself first for a while now. I’m sure you’ve all battled with the idea of just doing what’s right for you vs. the possibility of hurting others. I hear why self-love and care is so important, but I also wonder where we should draw the line.  Where does self-love end and selfishness begin?

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Self-love comes from a place of peaceful acceptance. It is your ability to honor all your successes as well as your short comings. Loving yourself means appreciating who you are as a person. It means knowing how to take care of yourself, while also developing the capability to love others for who they are as well.

Selfishness is the lack of concern for the values of others. It is acting only on self-interest with disregard to the effects it may have on others.

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Loving yourself is coming to terms with your flaws and critiquing them constructively. It means you know yourself very well, and understand that all you ever need is within you. You do not find it necessary to stress or prove yourself to anyone, because you are at peace with who you are. Whereas selfishness comes from a place of fear. It is when you constantly feel the need to impress yourself and impress others. Selfishness is attacking others personalities and beliefs to satisfy your inner ego. Selfishness comes from the inability to love oneself. It may seem that a selfish person loves themselves way too much, but on the contrary. They are actually quite unfulfilled. How can you expect someone who can’t see the beauty of their inner-self to see the beauty in others and the world around them? 

The way I see it, a person that has self- love can give love because they have love. To create a world of harmony you must learn to love yourself and love others.