Love is a magical feeling, especially if it’s genuine. But how could you tell if love is true? How could you love genuinely? A lot of questions are bubbling inside your head, a puzzle that can’t seem to be solved. But here’s one thing, you have to love yourself first in order to love others as well. It takes lot of practice.
Train yourself. The world is your training ground and the people around you are either your allies or detractors. But your greatest ally? You. It all comes down to you.
The greatest love of all comes from the Greatest Source above. Next, it has to come from you, within you, the love that you give yourself. And here’s why you should invest in loving yourself more before getting into a relationship:
1. Understand yourself so you can fully open your heart to others.
How can you open your heart to others if you cannot even understand yourself? This is a struggle to a lot because people who know how to listen but not everyone could understand. You should understand yourself; your strengths, flaws and weaknesses to be able to accept who you are and appreciate what you have.
2. You should commit to yourself first
Investing in yourself is the first step in order for you to commit to others unconditionally. Commitment is a huge responsibility that keeps you intact with other people but if you cannot even devote to yourself, then the relationship that can form from you might not have one of the strongest foundations that it needs – YOU.
3. You have to realize that the biggest supporter that you have is YOURSELF
No one can build your confidence better than yourself. Love yourself and everything that you do. Not just it will attract good vibes and success, it will also make you realize how important it is to build your own self-esteem to help others build theirs.
4. Self-worth is important
Seeking your worth in other people is too risky. It is uncertain for how long they will stay and build you. Some people that you depend on the most can walk away and leave you in pieces and then you have to start over. To have someone who tells you how worthy you are, you’ll be happy for some time but it can leave you broken again. It becomes a cycle. You have to break the mold and start understanding and committing to yourself.
5. Trust yourself
Trust is something that is not given instantly. It takes time, a lot of time actually to be able to realize that you can actually trust. But how could you do it if you cannot even be certain in your decisions, in who you are or what you can be? It is important that you start trusting from within. In that manner, you can trust your partner fairly equal as to how you trust yourself.
6. Master the beauty of forgiveness
Let’s say you did something that negatively changed your life. Would you do something to redeem yourself or succumb into the mistake that can no longer be changed? Go for the former instead. Forgive yourself and try again. No one has the power to control fate. If it is bound to happen, it happens. You just have to change how you react to it. There is a famous quote that says: “The truth will set you free”. But it can also be: “Forgiveness will set you free; free from grudges, from remorse and from pain.”
7. Believe in yourself
Believing that you have the power to love and forgive yourself is already one step closer into doing the same for other people. Again, how you think about yourself reflects in the way you treat others.
8. Remember to also learn to love yourself through others
Choose your relationships wisely. If you love yourself, be able to forgive your own mistakes. Know your worth. Trust and believe in yourself. Of course, you would want to be with someone that treats you the way you treat yourself. Raise your standards not to be the talk of the town, but to remind yourself that this is how you should be loved because it is how you see yourself.
Love someone not to complete yourself but to enrich. If you already met an adequate level of completion in yourself, then engaging in a relationship will be more fruitful. Everything starts from within. Never expect a tree to grow if you don’t water the roots. You see, a flower harshly picked dies after some time, why? Because the foundation is non-existent. Same goes for people, if you can’t love yourself then don’t expect that you can love genuinely.