There is a new mantra that has percolated into our society. It is about self-love, self-esteem, self-regard, self-worth. They say that if you don’t love yourself, nobody else will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self. How misguided this advice is. It is responsible for so many ills in our society. It takes at least two to love. You will have to split yourself to love yourself. You have to be a schizophrenic or a narcissist or both to do that. Love or regard is an outward bound emotion that given pleasure to the self also. My parents were thankfully not driven by self-love or self-worth. They did not believe that they have to be able to love themselves first so that they could then love me better. There is a lot of egotism. narcissism, vanity, and conceit in our world today are driven by this bizarre idea of self-love. It is in giving that you receive and not the other way around. I heard another empty quote the other day that ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself. That sounds almost anti-social. We fill the cup of our life by giving and receiving love, giving and receiving joy, sharing our lives, and not being focused on ourselves, our needs, or our happiness because that will only lead to our cup of life is full of sorrow. Imagine giving all the good Christmas gifts to yourself because you believe that you are worth it and you love yourself. Does that sound joyful? Now imagine giving away all that is precious to you to the precious people in your life. What emotion does that thought bring? Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but the seeds that you plant…….