Where is the line between Narcissism and self-love? We are taught not to be selfish and centered towards yourself, but to shower acts of kindness to all those and everything around you. It is even in the Bible: Leviticus 19:18 "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself".
But what happens when you forget about yourself? Everyone says "you have to love yourself before you can love someone else". (At least it's a commonly said statement that when heard most people agree with) Yet, when faced with themselves, they decide not to give too much love because we have been trained over time that those sorts of actions are selfish.
Even in yoga class we are told to "breath to your neighbor" or "share your energy with the room". I am in no way saying that this is a bad thing. As a teacher I often encourage this. I simply think that self-love is often forgotten about. We constantly try to give to others (whatever that may be): love to our children, filled expectations to our bosses, money to the bank, etc. We have seemed to forget how to give to ourselves. So, maybe what I'm really talking about here is BALANCE. It is well and good to give to your neighbor, and to pay bills on time. But it's also well and good to take yourself out to lunch, or take a bubble bath, or get yourself out of a situation that doesn't feed to "self-love".
Maybe the saying should read... "love thyself as thy neighbor".
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