Why exactly do you have to love yourself before you can love others?

Answer 1

A person must have a well defined character with traits of virtue to be capable of loving others. You can not love others until you have become a person of character that you can love. Loving yourself and others takes "at least" these traits. Love is a verb... an action.... not a noun. To love you must have the ability to display and apply these traits.

Traits such as: compassion, empathy, sympathy, caring, honesty, loyalty, kindness, tenderness, trustworthiness, passion, responsibility, dependability, sincere, reliability, perseverance, devotion, dedication, selflessness, romantic, sensuality, confidence.

So you must develope all these characteristics to be able to love yourself and others. It kind of cut and dry when you think about it. If you cant apply these to your relationship then you arent loving.

Answer 2

You have to at least like yourself before you are able to be in a healthy, loving relationship with others. When you don't like yourself, whatever the reason, you are usually carrying around some type of baggage. And that baggage gets in the way of developing healthy relationships. A mild example would be if someone thought they were stupid. They would feel inadequate in this area and would tend to find people who could make them feel better about themselves by constantly reassuring them that they are smart. And, when the second person gets tired of having to constantly cater to your need for reassurance, you will get dumped. Again, this is a mild example, typically people have a lot more baggage than this simple problem and would create a lot more stress in a relationship. So, work on loving yourself first and then you will be more able to find a healthy, loving mate.

Answer 3

I think the reason you have to love yourself first is to be able to truely accept another person for who they are. Most people are thier toughest critics and if you're not in love with yourself, then you will find fault, and then it will carry over to the one you love. They wont be perfect, the will have things that annoy you or upset you. But loveing yourself first will teach you how you want to be treated and what feels good to you.

Answer 4

through fact in case you do unlike your self first, most of the affection you deliver out will basically be subconscious tries to get others to show which you're certainly "attractive." once you already love your self there is not any want for consistent reassurance which you're a sturdy guy or woman or a stunning guy or woman. this helps you to offer love from a secure place and obtain love without it being something that basically basically props up a floundering self-ego.

Answer 5

How can you even clearly look at another person if you keep looking at yourself? That's the way I look at it. If you don't love yourself, you're probably more dissatisfied and preoccupied with yourself, and that draws attention away from other people.

Self-love frees your attention to attend to other things in life, especially other people. Have you ever tried to be involved with someone who doesn't love themself, or even intentionally abused themself? They aren't really attentive to you or your needs, since they have their own needs to take care of first.

Answer 6

Because you'd be selfish & resentful otherwise. To truly love someone, you need to always be asking, "what can I do for you" without worrying about what they're doing for you. If you don't feel that you deserve that kind of treatment, you won't be able to give it to others.

Answer 7

Well if you don't love yourself then you really can't love someone else... It's just obvious... You wouldn't want them to see you nakey.

Answer 8

because the way you perceive yourself will impact the way you perceive and deal with others, it's like a mirror reflection.

Answer 9

we call it foundation for love