“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” –Lucille Ball

Over the past eighteen years, I have counseled many people who were related to someone who were very fortunate and had everything: good health, a wonderful spouse, great children, and they wanted for absolutely nothing and yet they were miserable. Every time I heard one of these stories, I was baffled, especially after returned home from my trip to India years ago. When I was in India, I witnessed a mother brush her teeth and bathe her son in sewer water. After seeing what true misery looked like, I thought that it was a shame that all those fortunate people that I heard about over the years had to do was heal some wounds and learn how to love themselves. If they did that, then they could have fully enjoyed the good in their lives. Maybe they would have even helped those who were less fortunate, which would have added to their lives even more.

The real key to being happy no matter where you are in life is to truly love yourself. When you master this, you will take excellent care of yourself, make good choices, and no longer accept any form of mistreatment. You will pursue your heart’s desires and greatly appreciate your life. The first step toward learning how to love yourself is being willing to do so. If you are not willing to work toward loving yourself, then keep in mind that if you do not have self-love, then you will not be able to love others. We only can give what we have! Also, it is not possible to be happy without self-love.

“I think the most important thing in life is self-love, because if you don’t have self-love, and respect for everything about your own body, your own soul, your own capsule, then how can you have an authentic relationship with anyone else?” –Shailene Woodley

When was the last time you treated yourself exceptionally well, where you were kind and loving to yourself? Perhaps this is new for you. You may be like me, your parents did not model anything about self-love and they did not teach you how to treat yourself well. If so, this certainly can be learned, regardless of how old you are today! I have counseled many people who were never taught anything about self-love and now in their fifties, sixties, and seventies, they are enjoying the incredible results from recently learning how to love themselves. I even counseled an eight-four year old woman who for the first time learned how to say no and treat herself very well! It is never too late! Make a commitment today to start loving yourself, so you can start this new, rewarding journey.