My late Mother always said to me "You have to love yourself before you can love others". I realize now that I did not have any depth or understanding of that statement. At this point in my life, I have a deeper understanding of what loving myself can mean. My current definition would be that loving myself is about embracing and accepting the peace that is and always has existed within me. I experience love as a deep, spacious, open knowing that expands from within me and connects to all that is around me. In relationship with others I have felt an excited and heightened energy which makes me feel really alive. I question whether this feeling is a part of the peaceful love I feel or something entirely different.