One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
If I could make a clear distinction between self-love and love of self, it would be a giant step forward in changing my attitude toward the alcoholic. Self-love is the source of hostility and arrogance, the big ego around which everything must revolve. It makes me unable to see any point of view but my own. It is the mark of a mind which is closed to real feeling for others.
Love of self, on the other hand, carries out the Commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” We can love others, and help them, only when we are at peace with ourselves. When we appreciate our own dignity and value as human beings, we are better able to have compassion for others.
Today’s Reminder:
Self-love often wears a mask of false humility behind which we exaggerate our own importance, and justify the wrongs we do to others. True humility comes from love of self, which is the realization of ourselves as we really are.
“Resolve to be thyself and know that he who finds himself loses his misery.”
— Matthew Arnold