Love Comes From Within

This is related to an earlier post found here: https://thehangout.space/discussions-1/what-is-love

How do we Love selflessly? By Loving ourselves unconditionally. It is only possible to Love selflessly when you Love yourself completely. When we are in need of something or want something, we cannot Love selflessly. When we provide ourselves with everything that we want and need, we no longer need "others" to fill that void within ourselves.

We all have the voice in our head. Most of us fight that voice so it becomes our enemy. If you have to live with the voice in your mind; wouldn't you rather it be your friend than your enemy? How do you turn the voice into your friend? Stop fighting it first of all. Be sympathetic towards it. When the voice talks, just listen unjudgmentally. Treat the voice as you would a very dear friend or family member. When you treat the voice in your mind with respect and kindness, you are able to see that the voice was never your enemy. If the voice is coming from inside your mind, how could it possibly be your enemy? That voice is in fact you talking to yourself. 

We talk to ourselves for all sorts of reasons. We might not feel like we can say certain things out loud. We may not want to say certain things because we know it may hurt who we say them to. We may be embarrassed or ashamed of certain things. We know that our interpretations will be misperceived and on and on. Since we have things that we don't feel we can say out loud, we hide them and say them to ourselves. The issue that arises is when we don't listen to ourselves either. We fight the voice in our mind, not realizing that it's only there because it wants to be heard and no one is listening. When we take the time and put in the energy to listen to ourselves and what we have to say, the voice quiets down. Have a conversation with yourself, Love yourself, forgive yourself, and respect yourself. When you do these things, you will realize there is no voice in your mind separate from you, it's just you, who else could it be? 

I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don't understand
I can take myself dancing
And I can hold my own hand
Yeah, I can love me better than you can

- Flowers by Miley Cyrus

Do all the things for yourself that you wish someone else would do for you. Yes, it's always nice when someone does something nice for you, but when we rely on someone else to do things for us that we want them to do, we usually end up waiting for a long time. Most people do what their idea of nice is for us instead of what we consider to be nice. Take yourself to a concert, buy yourself something that you want, have a movie night and sleepover with yourself, or bake yourself some cookies. Just treat yourself how you want to be treated, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. In this way you become self-reliant and don't need anyone else to Love you, since you Love yourself so completely. When someone else does something nice for you, and Loves you, it is simply an added bonus. Extra Love on top of the Love you give yourself. 

Most of us wouldn't dream of saying anything mean to our Loved ones. Most of us would stand up for someone close to us if someone was saying means things about them. Yet, we say all sorts of horrible things to and about ourselves and don't bat an eye. We say things like "I'm not good at that", "I'm broken", "I'm so stupid", "I'm so clumsy", "I can't do anything right", and "nobody likes me". If you talk to your best friend like that, they may not be your friend long, but when you talk to yourself like that, there's nowhere you can go, you can't leave your own mind, although many of us try. A lot of us practice self-bullying and self-hatred instead of self-encouragement and self-Love. 

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.

– Anonymous

When we practice self-Love, we no longer rely on someone else to provide Love. When we practice self-Love, we are able to start Loving "others" selflessly. When we practice self-Love, we can see past the perceived duality of our mind and into the oneness that is. We no longer see "friend" or "enemy", we no longer Love "others" based on their treatment of us, we simply Love "others" because we are able to see how little Love they give themselves. People who Love themselves, treat others with kindness and compassion, having been in that same position themselves and having more than enough to give to "others". People who don't Love themselves, need "others" to give them that Love and aren't usually very kind to "others". People who don't Love themselves, feel like they are lacking Love and therefore have very little to give to anyone else. Love and Peace!

If there is fear without, it is due to fear within
If there if Love without, it is due to Love within
Fear within is simply an illusion caused by a perceived threat within
Love within is steadfast and ceaseless
Fear is a contradiction to Love
There is only Love or fear and one of them is an illusion
- Stephen Abdiel