Fill Your Own Cup

“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.”
~Robert Morley

This week’s quote is a reminder that self-love is the key to living a happy, healthy existence. However, this quote also leaves a lot to be desired. Suggesting that you need to fall in love with yourself in order to be happy implies a kind of forced self-infatuation. But self-love is not the same thing as vanity. It's not about gazing adoringly at your own reflection, it’s about treating yourself with kindness and respect.

Is it even possible to be in love with yourself? To do so, you would first need to divide yourself into two equal halves: one half of you that is giving love, and the other half that’s receiving it. However, you can’t just split yourself in two because, as we have discussed in previous blogs, you are one. But, if you are indeed one, then how exactly are you supposed to love yourself?

Simply by recognizing that you are, essentially, the energy of love- the same loving energy that created this world and everyone in it. Ram Dass once described love not as a fleeting emotion but as a fundamental way of being. “This love is actually part of you,” he explained, “it’s always flowing through you. It’s like the subatomic texture of the universe.” He explained that being present to this love is like “relaxing endlessly into a warm bath that surrounds and supports your every movement so that every thought and feeling is permeated by it.”

So, breathe easily and relax into the loving energy that is always present inside your being. When it comes to happiness, the love that radiates from your own heart is what matters, not the love that comes to you from the outside. By cultivating self-love, you learn to fill your own cup. Only when your cup is full can you share your love freely with others.