I love myself just as I am   – affirmation

In 2000, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach interviewed the late Michael Jackson for a book he was writing. This conversation revealed just how lonely Michael had become.

“I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think of all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That’s all. That’s the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved.” – Michael Jackson

“I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved.” Michael Jackson had hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world. They loved him and his music. Many worshiped him. Yet Michael Jackson was ‘starving’ for love. Why is this so?

Other people may love us. But at the end of the day we have to love and respect ourselves. We find loving ourselves a lot more difficult than loving someone else like a child, our friends or even our pets. We think that to love ourselves we have to be special. Even ‘special’ people like Michael Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman, a prolific actor who won an Oscar, ended their lives tragically.

Maybe we think we need a reason to love ourselves. I think the reason we can love ourselves is because we are unique. There is no one else like us, just as no two snowflakes are alike. Snowflakes are not only unique, they are incredibly beautiful.

I like to think of myself as a unique expression of God, the Universe or the Cosmos. There is a creative force that created us. Robert Fritz, a composer and author, wrote in his book The Path of Least Resistance that: “Then one day, in the middle of composing some music, I suddenly realize that I was composing this music because I loved it enough to see it exist. And I could imagine God creating the world for no other reason than love.”

Yes, we can love and respect ourselves just as we are. We do not have to be perfect or special to love ourselves. Use this affirmation often to remind yourself that you are a unique being. You can  love yourself in spite of imperfections and shortcomings