In our scriptures, there’s a simple, radical invitation: love your neighbor as you love yourself, and let that love become a breath you carry into your daily life. It sounds beautiful, almost utopian. Yet in today’s world, I’ve found that the bigger challenge isn’t always loving others—it’s learning to love oneself.
From my own journey—solitary treks through snow-draped mountains in Norway, long layovers in Abu Dhabi and traveling by roads driving on my own became a precious “me time,” i indulged in conversations about faith, health, and healing not only with strangers that i met along the way but also with my heart —I’ve come to see self-love not as indulgence, but as a quiet, essential foundation. It’s the steady ground that makes loving others possible, sustainable, and real.
When we struggle to love ourselves, we often grow frustrated, and that frustration can manifest as mental strain or illness. We can slip into constant comparisons and ego-driven power games, which clouds our sense of compassion and purity of intention. And when intention isn’t clear and pure, loving others becomes much harder.
So, I’m learning to nourish that inner garden: to treat myself with kindness, to tend to my health—mental and physical—and to cultivate patience, humility, and gratitude. Only then does the light of genuine love for others become easier to share, less fragile, and more enduring.
If you’re on a similar path, may we remind each other to slow down enough to notice our own wounds and needs, so we can approach others from a place of wholeness. May our self-love be a quiet, steady force—one that elevates our relationships, rather than diminishes them.
While remaining true to oneself we should always be connected to our core with warmth love and respect for the journeys we each walk keeping our dignity alive....
Stay Blessed
Dolly Manghat
https://www.dollymanghat.com
