Self-Love, Being Your Own Best Friend – And All This In A Non-Creepy Way

“Lift up the self by the Self
And don’t let the self droop down,
For the Self is the self’s only friend
And the self is the Self’s only foe.” ~ Bhagavad Gita 6:5

 A mindf**k, maybe, nevertheless true.

So, we must find a way to pick ourselves up. And a way to stop laying ourselves flat, kicking ourselves when we’re already down (and why not at all other times too?). Because it is our own blows, even the taking away of our own hand as we feel ourselves drooping down, that are the most destructive. Sometimes catastrophic.

Something in you can do it, knows the way, easy – that is your Self. Not the small ‘self’, the one you probably identify with more (‘identify’ means recognize as yourself); but the Self. The Self doesn’t hesitate; it knows how to love, even the self. Even your self.

Question: “That I feed the hungry, forgive an insult, and love my enemy – these are great virtues. But what if I should discover that the poorest of beggars and most impudent of offenders are all within me, and that I stand in need of all the alms of my own kindness; that I myself am the enemy who must be loved – what then?” (Carl Jung)

What then? Will you acknowledge your self as the same as all others: worthy of your compassion and encouragement and loving kindness? (Please?)

This is why: “If we feel a sense of self-love and someone else loves us, we feel, ‘But, of course!'” (Nathaniel Branden)

Not because of an egotism or self-conceit; but because that’s how we feel about the things we react to with love. It’s how we feel when we react to things with love.

Remember: “The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it, and then help that best into the fullest expression.” (J. Allen Boone)

Any living thing includes yourself, and that’s what’s true: to achieve right relations with your self, and to be your own best friend, you must look for the best in your self, you must feed the poor, forgive the offensive, and love the ‘despicable’ within you. Not to get it to stay the way it is, but precisely so that you have a hope of helping it become a better version of itself. You must lift your self up; and not let your self, or its smile, droop down, so that you have a leg, or a hope, to stand on. Be a Friend. Something in you knows how – easy.