Learn to Celebrate Yourself

Do you know that how you treat yourself plays a big role in what you make of your life? Do you often reflect on yourself to appreciate and celebrate your sense of uniqueness? Is your perception of self adversely influenced by the destructive criticisms of others or the drive to please the nay sayers? Are you tempted to want to be like others? As E. E. Cummings observed, “The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.” Such might have made Shannon Alder to say that “One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” In Eartha Kitt’s words, “It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self love deficit.” As a writer said, practicing self-love is important to our overall happiness and well-being hence Mark Twain’s observation: “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” The implications is that loving yourself, identifying your uniqueness and developing a habit of being your greatest fan is necessary to fulfilled life.

So, consciously take steps to love and celebrate yourself. Know that self-love is great for reminding yourself that the best things in life start with you. As Beau Taplin said, recognize that “Self love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.” When tempted to think so much of others at the expense of yourself, remind yourself of Buddha’s counsel: “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” When you feel like you need the validation of others before appreciating yourself, Rumi cautioned: “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire.”

 

 

Always remember, as Anne Hathaway noted, that “If you’re not someone who has a natural and effortless love for yourself, it’s hard to let go of your desire to please other people, and that’s really not an ingredient for a happy life.”