“To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” – Oscar Wilde
It’s February, the time of year when you go to buy a friend a birthday card and come face-to-face with a paper mountain of red, pitter-patter, love-soaked greetings; when all of the outer wrappers of chocolate bars have exploding hearts; and when you open the newspaper and see restaurants advertising romantic three-course meals.
All of these tangible concoctions of love can make you think that it’s only something shared with someone else. But Mr. Wilde reminds us – as does Marianne Williamson when she writes in A Woman’s Worth, “When a woman falls in love with the magnificent possibilities within herself, the forces that would limit those possibilities hold less and less sway over her.” – that loving yourself is also a groovy kind of love. (Come on, we all like that song.)
So if you’re fortunate enough to be single (yes, it can be a blessing), take the energy of the upcoming hearty holiday to focus on what you love most about yourself (and how you can direct that confidence to current opportunities or goals) and what you can do to improve aspects of yourself that, in your opinion, aren’t all that loveable. I really believe that if you are content with who you are, the outward manifestations of what you may do socially, professionally, politically, religiously, and so forth will be far better than if you look to these outlets before getting in tip-top, self-love shape.
image: (cc) candy hearts