WHY IS IT SO MUCH EASIER TO LOVE OTHERS- AND SO HARD TO LOVE OURSELVES?

DEAR FRIENDS- Have you ever wondered why it is so much easier to love other people- deeply, madly, truly- than it is to love yourself?
If we could feel toward ourselves the same passion, the same admiration, the same tenderness and the same devotion that we so happily give to others- oh how different our lives would be!!
For a moment, open your mind and your heart and imagine that you unconditionally love yourself. Perhaps you will get a glimpse of how confident and emotionally secure you would feel; how easy it would be to shine forth and share your light with the world; how joyful it would be to simply be alive; and how much love would flow from you to other people, and from others back to you.
And all this happiness brought about by the simple miracle of completely loving and accepting YOU!
Deep in our bodies, hearts and souls this unconditional self-love is what we all long for the most. Because it throws the gates of heaven- everything that is wonderful and fulfilling about ourselves and life- wide open!
This state of grace is where our path needs to take us. But the sad reality is that most of us do find it far easier to give our hearts to others than to truly love ourselves.
BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
It would take an entire book to thoroughly explain why genuine self-love is so elusive. But the brief answer is that we have been conditioned- by our families, societies and religions to 1. believe that there is something unlovable/unacceptable/unworthy/unbeautiful/shameful about ourselves (this is mostly about sexual guilt/shame and guilt/shame about various emotions.....) 2. believe that it is "good" and "spiritually correct" (to coin a phrase) to love others but it is "selfish" to love yourself!
Between these two Big Lies about who we really are, we don't get the training, encouragement and reinforcement to love ourselves. And active discouragement to do so!
So we have work to do! First for our own sake, and also for our children and our children's children, we need to free our hearts and minds, our bodies and souls of every speck of conditioning that stops our love for ourselves from blossoming. Through how we treat ourselves, how we speak to ourselves, how we think about ourselves and what we choose to do- every moment, every day!- we need to tend the Garden of Self-Love within us.
Self-discovery, self-completion- Self-Love!- is a path and a way of life that inevitably leads to the peace, joy and happiness you long for and deserve. The more you see your own beauty, the more you love and believe in yourself, the more the Gates of Heaven swing open to receive you.
It's time to open your arms, your heart, your soul- to YOU! LOTS OF LOVE- BRYAN