Love Yourself

Most Religions practice Atonement - a time and scheduled process when you can let go of your perceived  sinful acts; a time when your higher authority forgives you for all your misdeeds. Wouldn't it be nice if you could let go of your guilt every day, or perhaps even better, not accumulating anything to start with? This doesn't mean that we expect you to be an angel, but rather that you accept all personalities about yourself.

Love has to start with loving yourself, even the darkest part. It is so easy to love our good part, just like it is easy to love a good person, but it is so difficult to love all the aspects of yourself that appear to be a little darker. It may be lust, it may be greed, it may be the hunger for social and professional recognition. Often these guilt programs run subconsciously since you are not always willing to face them. The psychological fact is though, whether you acknowledge these drives in you or not, you will punish yourself over your perceived misdeeds. Can you imagine that you are in fact cruel to yourself? Where do you think your illnesses come from - it is you beating yourself up over something. We are mad at ourselves and want to punish ourselves for our mistakes. Isn't this violent and aggressive?

When you are greedy, psychological programs are running that have been in the making for eons. Have you ever noticed how a soccer dad is spurning on his boy during the game and afterwards, when the team has won, tabs him on the back and says that the game is just about having fun. How can you criticize yourself for having competitiveness inside you, how can you blame your father or coach? How can beat yourself up for hormones running through your body, or society telling you subconsciously as well as openly that you should conquer women? Accept everything that is going on inside. Love all aspects of your being.

Every day we experience lots of different kinds of energy which we identify with and think that it is us. No, these energies are not you, they are just flowing through you. A personality wheel is spinning with different aspects shining through dependent on the energy centers that are activated inside of you and the triggers that are activated by your environment. Whenever, you identify with all the characters you create a false self for yourself. You probably realize yourself how these false selves are often in conflict with each other. The saint in you has an opinion about the devil in you. The truth is neither the saint nor the devil are you. The devil is your ego, as is the voice of the saint. This is how you fragment yourself. We are not saying that you should go and live out all your urges and desires, but we are saying that it is possible to integrate all aspects of your personality in a wholesome way. Acknowledge first all the drives in you and then do something creative with them.

Being in peace with yourself is the first step to building a peaceful society. Peace, love, and kindness should start with yourself. Stop attacking yourself and accept every part of you; to experience them as they are without judgment is your key to your peace and to becoming whole. Love every part of you, then you will be able to love every person who comes your way. Jesus says you should love your enemy - you should certainly be kind with yourself as well, right? May peace be with you!

By Christian and Su Zhen