When it comes to love we all tend to do what comes naturally, we go along with it. We then attempt to love others without knowing how to love ourselves. I’ve personally learned about self-love through my own mistakes. Those mistakes have helped me identify some common patterns we tend to make. What I also learned is that we often overlook the importance of self-love, because we are preoccupied loving everyone else.

One of the biggest lessons of life is learning to love others. However, it is important that we learn to love and inspire the person we see when we look in the mirror. Just imagine how good you would feel if you could…
- accept that you are a worthy person
- receive the respect you want
- value yourself, when others do not
- fall in love with the imperfect you
- make and live with your decisions
- pamper yourself without guilt

Having self-love will provide you with all the above. Although we all come from different homes, we all wish for kindness and goodwill. In a very real sense, only love can grant our wishes, because love is what makes us feel good about ourselves. At one time, we feel strong love for someone else (mothers, friends, siblings, children, objects, careers, pets, and our mates). But to truly understand the authenticity of love, we must first learn to love ourselves. How we feel about ourselves has a lot to do with how other people treat us.

There are many people who mistake egotism with self-love. Egomaniacs: individuals who are excessively conceited. First, they care only for themselves and no one else. Second, they believe they are better than everyone else. Third, they are constantly talking about themselves, in search of praise or approval. Egomaniacs want to be treated as gods and are never modest about anything. Their confidence is a fake. At times they are disrespectful and find joy in making others miserable. Lastly, they do for others, only when they get something in return.

Self-love is a decision an individual makes to treat themselves with kindness. It's a commitment to growing in spite of the obstacles presented by life. It's having the ability to forgive ourselves even when others do not. It's the ability to look at the things we do wrong and make them right. Self-love is being able to look in the mirror and see how beautiful you truly are. It's stopping others from causing you injury. In a broad sense, self-love is being able to accept and appreciate who and what you are. As you read further, I will ask that you stop and take some time to meditate.

Think positive, and believe that you are her for a reason. Believe that your birth was not a mistake, believe that the person you see is powerful and beautiful. Believe in who you are. The mind has an immense capacity to process data. Feed it properly, and it will make your life better. If you do not feed it right, negative people and situations will get you down. Stay positive!

Copyright © 2008 by Sandra Graves. All rights reserved. Portions of this work were previously published. Printed in the United States of America.
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This was only the introduction of my book, you can read the rest of this book by visiting http://www.books.mysandragraves.com

Author's Bio: 

Sandra Graves is a self-published author who writes books to inspire women. She has a BS in Communications and currently works for the number one educational publisher. Among other talents, she is a motivational speaker, poet and friend to all women... Sandra Graves was born in Panama, a Latin country and is now a U.S. citizen. She fluent in both English and Spanish, She is the youngest sibling of six girls and a mother of two children. Sandra Graves inspire women by story telling because she want other women to know that everything is attainable. Her goal is to inspire women to love who they are and continue to grow as they do so. God, her kids and her husband are her biggest inspirations.