isnt self love necessary to love others?

[amberteresa]

Sometimes, I ask myself...
how can you serve others if you dont enjoy serving others? if everybody gave themselves to each other and didnt enjoy life what would be the point?

[Nau7ik]

Yes you’re right. One needs to be able to love himself if he wishes to truly serve others.

The second ray chakra begins a line of resonance in the chakra body with 4 and 6. If one can’t accept and/or love himself, the fourth chakra is only being partially activated, because the fourth chakra is about universal love, which of course includes the self. Seeing the self as unworthy blocks the 6th chakra, one’s ability to do work in conciousness.

This is exactly why self love is so important on the positive path. It’s not a selfish narcissistic love at all. It’s a love that accepts the self, seeks to understand the self, respects the self, a love that forgives the self and sees the self as worthy just as he is, shadows and all. If one can love himself with all of his beautiful and ugly aspects alike, he can accept and forgive others for their imperfection. This is when the heart truly begins to open and the absolute beauty of universal loves radiates to all on his path.

There are different ways to serve for different temperaments. Some prefer to passively radiate love and light to the world. Some pray and meditate. (A totally valid service. Personal spiritual work aids the planet and it’s people on their path.) Others might want to join the peace Corp and go to impoverished countries and live in poverty so that they may aid those who most need it. We all have a purpose here. I’ve always felt I was here for a spiritual purpose. I have an friend (who I believe is definitely a wanderer, of an older generation) who knows her purpose to be the guidance and protection of children. Those who come across her path, if they need help, if their home situation isn’t good, she provided refuge. I became best friends with her son, Joel, and they became a second family to me when my family was going though a rough patch in my high school years.

Anyway, self love is vital to the positive path.

[Cyan]

Service to others is impossible, service to 51% others is possible. Or so I sometimes feel as self and other self are same.

[loostudent]

Sometimes, I ask myself...
how can you serve others if you dont enjoy serving others? if everybody gave themselves to each other and didnt enjoy life what would be the point?

I agree. The value of service is in responding with true heart attitude.

Maybe some quotes from Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life would help:

To change your life, you must change the way you think /.../

Imagine riding in a speedboat on a lake with an automatic pilot set to go east. If you decide to reverse and head west, you have two possible ways to change the boat’s direction. One way is to grab the steering wheel and physically force it to head in the opposite direction from where the autopilot is programmed to go. By sheer willpower you could overcome the autopilot, but you would feel constant resistance. Your arms would eventually tire of the stress, you’d let go of the steering wheel, and the boat would instantly head back east, the way it was internally programmed.

This is what happens when you try to change your life with willpower: You say, “I’ll force myself to eat less . . . exercise more ... quit being disorganized and late.” Yes, willpower can produce short-term change, but it creates constant internal stress because you haven’t dealt with the root cause. The change doesn’t feel natural, so eventually you give up, go off your diet, and quit exercising. You quickly revert to your old patterns.

Here is a better and easier way: Change your autopilot— the way you think. The Bible says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Your first step in spiritual growth is to start changing the way you think. Change always starts first in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. Paul said, “There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.”

To be like Christ you must develop the mind of Christ. The New Testament calls this mental shift repentance [metanoia], which in Greek literally means “to change your mind.” You repent whenever you change the way you think by adopting how God thinks — about yourself, sin, God, other people, life, your future, and everything else. You take on Christ’s outlook and perspective.

We are commanded to “think the same way that Christ Jesus thought.” There are two parts to doing this. The first half of this mental shift is to stop thinking immature thoughts, which are self-centered and self-seeking /.../ The second half of thinking like Jesus is to start thinking maturely, which focuses on others, not yourself /.../

Thinking of others is the heart of Christlikeness and the best evidence of spiritual growth. This kind of thinking is unnatural, counter-cultural, rare, and difficult. Fortunately we have help:
“God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.”

[AnthroHeart]

I think loving ourselves is most important. I once asked to send energy to whoever needed it the most, and the energy came right back to me. It was where it was most needed.

[Patrick]

Sometimes, I ask myself...
how can you serve others if you dont enjoy serving others? if everybody gave themselves to each other and didnt enjoy life what would be the point?

Don't force it.  Just set your intention to serve others if this is what you wish to lean towards.  Then forget about the details and continue living your life reinforcing this intention from time to time.  What needs to change in you, if anything, will start doing so at its own pace.  The ways one serves others everyday are truly hard to notice as being of service sometimes.
 

[AnthroHeart]

Thank you Patrick. Just set intention, got it.
I find though that I meet some substantial resistance in my heart when I think of serving others.
Enough that it troubles me.

[Patrick]

Thank you Patrick. Just set intention, got it.
I find though that I meet some substantial resistance in my heart when I think of serving others.
Enough that it troubles me.

Don't we all ?!

In any case, if you're going to make yourself less happy in order to make another happier, then the net result for the Creator is nullified isn't ?  Since both are the same One Creator.  So the answer is to help others become happier by happily being yourself.

Any true service one can provide will come forth naturally and with joy.  All such true service is the same in importance.  No service is greater or lesser than another.  This is easy to forget down here...