Self Respect To Self Love

The greatest way that we can honor ourselves is to develop a level self-respect equal to, or greater than, the way in which we respect others. We often disregard ourselves, unintentionally, in pursuit of loving others; the long term effect is that we unconsciously end up believing that we are less valuable or worthy of love than others, and become reliant on outside validation.

If we can step back to evaluate and respond to our wants and needs as those of someone we respect, we begin to form respect for ourselves. When we have the security of that self-respect and internal validation, we can begin to know and love ourselves, from within.