Did you know that your heart began beating for the first time 21 days after conception in your mother’s womb? Interestingly, it didn’t immediately send blood through your tiny developing body. Instead, the very first vessels it nourished were its own. Only after sustaining itself sufficiently, did it begin to pump life-giving blood into the rest of your forming circulatory system, and it continued to do so about 200.000 times a day. In adulthood it beats approximately 100.000 times a day. That’s nearly 40.000.000 times a year!
What better example could there be of true self-love? Your own heart demonstrated this in its first beginnings as the supplier of life-giving substances. Self-love is so often mistaken for selfishness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Loving yourself first acknowledges that this being, that you are, is infinitely precious, and it needs to be nourished first before it can nourish others too. Just as your heart cared for itself first before caring for the rest of your body, so you must nourish your own needs before you can truly help others.
As the saying goes: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Fill your own cup first, care for yourself deeply. Only then can you overflow with love, energy and compassion for those around you.
“Self-love is the source of all other loves.” – Yung Pueblo
