Love Yourself
by Esther Hicks

We have been taught from childhood that loving others
above ourselves is the only way to be⦠that anything
that is not focused on others is bound to fail, and we
have coined the word "selfish" to describe those who
tend to their own needs first. We portray them as greedy,uncaring, unfeeling, unaware of anything but themselves.
And so the very first and most important tenet of all of the universal laws has been voted out â if you do not take care of yourself first, you will have nothing to give others. Nothing at all. You will be straining and struggling as you give more, more, more and eventually resentment will set in â resentment against these people, my friends, my family, my co-workers, who take from me all the time, who never allow me space to be myself, who are so demanding â but since I love them
so much, and since they are more important than me,
I of course have no choice in the matter. Because if I
DO choose to be different, if I DO choose to say "No,
I do not want to do this right now", if I DO dare to
concentrate on my own needs first, the second wave of
the attack starts⦠beating up on myself, feeling guilty
about daring to want to follow my own drummer, tell
my own story, and this usually shows me pretty
quickly how wrong I was to want a life in which I can be
happy, a life that works for me.
I want you to consider, just for a minute, that there may be another way to do this⦠another way to reach out to others, to give them compassion and support.. and that is through the channel of yourself. By filling yourself to the brim, by knowing and realizing and admitting with joy that you are the creator of your own life, every second, by focusing on making yourself your most important spiritual practice, you touch everyone around you, uplift them, and you have so much more to give.
Every disempowering situation that you find yourself in, every relationship that does not support your view and vision of your life, every human connection that you are tolerating for the sake of peace, with the intention not to hurt them by changing and telling your story, chips away at your empowerment, reduces you every time you engage in any action that is not in keeping with the bigger plan that your Inner Being has for you â a life of joyful creation, a life of compassion for others, BUT a life where you are lovingly focused on bringing to yourself first that which you want others to have.

The freedom to choose, the freedom to breathe,the freedom of headspace, the freedom of your
personal boundaries, and the freedom to love whom
you choose without any shoulds and musts.

It is so necessary to feel good, and if you do not focus on yourself and stop holding others up as the reason why you are not advancing in your life, the headway you are making in this wonderful co-creative third dimensional reality â and your growth from who you are to who you are becoming â will be much slower than it can be.

Struggle is optional â it truly is⦠why choose it?

Love yourself. You can begin today.