SELF-the word in itself has immense potential and tremendous implications.It is linked to our very being,our existence.Does it mean our entity or identity? Is it our psyche or do we address our soul when we utter the word 'self'.Infact it is very difficult to define 'self' briefly.Brevity would only lead to omission of essential details.

We love ourselves.Those who do not are either lying or are irrational andsufferig from insanity. The soul speaks the message of the Good God,it is said.Listen to your soul-it is the guiding  light in our lives.A selfish human is unliked by one and all.Why?Not because he/she loves himself/herself ,but because he disregards others.The love for oneself should not be a deterrent factor in reaching out to others.Love thy neighbours,we were taught in school.But ,if your nextdoor inhabitant is rude and harmful,it is better to avoid him/her.In that case you are not selfish.Selflessness is a virtue of the intelligent.The more modest and helpful you are ,the more secure you are in society.Of course one cannot be kind to a person who is  harmful and definitely hates himself. A lovely human who everyone adores has self worth ,is dignified. He will never belittle himself, since he knows that 'the self' is our direct link to God. Florence Nightingale,the lady with the lamp, definitely had great self esteem( not ego) ,which helped her to realise and achieve her goal of service to mankind.Mother Teressa is another glorified example of this. All great men of this earth possess  self worth.

Conclusion: Loving oneself cannot be categorised as selfishness.In todays world we tend to mix up sefishness and selflessness.They seem to overlap each other.If we study the biographies of great men .Self worth was present in all. Self worth leads us to self actualisation, through constant effort of self development.It is a never ending process.We have to find ways and means to improve ourselves.This will help us to be focussed . Thus ,'self' is of utmost importance.You need to love yourself to love others.