Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday Quote Day

You, yourself, as much as anybody
in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection.
~ Buddha

I have no trouble at all taking care of you, or you, or you (or him or her or them). I have a lot of trouble taking care of me.

I've always, always thought that "love yourself" crap was, well, crap. Even worse, I thought it was psychobabble crap – a homework assignment from your therapist to keep you coming back until you finally get it.

As you might have guessed, I left therapy a long, long time ago.

My mother suffered from the same condition: taking care of others was what she did, friends or family, we were all under her comforting umbrella. She also fought a weight problem all her life.

Taking care of myself doesn't mean I can't or won't take care of you or you or you or him or her or them. It means I'll be better able to give of myself, if myself is whole and healthy. What a concept. The airlines do it on every flight: Put your oxygen mask on before you assist someone else.

Duh.

2 comments:

JourneyBeyondSurvival said...

Baby steps.

I too learned this at my mother's feet.

Now she is even jumping on the wagon of "take care of you!" Not that she's doing it herself, she just wants to take care of me! ;)

At least we know, and we're pulling up to stand. Maybe you're even taking steps. We're progressing.

Unknown said...

Good post - and you are so right - the airlines do say put on your oxygen mask before putting on your child's mask. And a lot of women have a problem with that (including myself) but it makes sense. Sometimes I need to be reminded it's OK to love me.

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