now, this may sound conceited, self-absorbed and proud...
but, I like myself.
I am increasingly comfortable with who I am.
and for some reason this bothers you, doesn't it? instead of celebrating this, you bemoan it.
"good for you, Mr. I-Like-Myself! good...for...you"
why is this? why do we have such a hard time celebrating others?
if we're honest, our more intial reaction is near-jealousy.
something good happens to someone else, and we wonder why it didn't happen to us.
something bad happens to someone else, and we're glad it didn't happen to us.
man are we proud. we think this world revolves around us.
it doesn't.
and when we start to figure that one out, we begin to like ourselves a little more, because we think about ourselves a little less.
because, in an paradoxical way - the worse we feel about ourselves, the more we dwell on ourselves.
this begins a cycle of self-depreciation which is a form of pride.
pride does not always mean that you think you are the best.
sometimes, and I think rarely labelled as such, pride presents itself as dwelling on how much you don't like yourself.
this is detrimental to how we view others and how we care for others, mostly because we spend so much time beating ourselves up that we rarely have time to think of others.
so stop.
stop beating yourself up and care for someone else.
- take an interest in their life, without having to interject how horrible your life is.
- practically help someone else who is in need, without expecting anything in return.
- get in touch with someone you haven't talked to in a while - just to see how they're doing.
- give to those in need.
when you do this, you'll briefly forget about yourself...and in the process you may like yourself a little more.
and next week, after forgetting about yourself for awhile, you can honestly say - 'I like myself'.
