A Research Poem about Self Love

A research poem

Subtitled: Notes on Self Love

Additionally subtitled: Reflections and conclusions following notes

Who hasn’t heard this?

You have to love yourself more

And I wonder,

How much is enough?

And then there’s this one:
You can't love another person until you love yourself first.

    And I wonder if,

    Maybe the better way to say that is

    You can think you’re in love

    But unless you love yourself

    You don’t really know what love is

    And you’re not capable of giving love fully.

So people write and talk about this:
Do you want to live well?
And their answer,

Which I mostly agree with

is:

    Not possible unless you love yourself,

    Respect yourself,

    Take care of yourself.

    YOU are important.

         So are other people,

    If you don’t take care of you,

         How can you take care of anyone else

              Without reservation

              Or guilt.

Self love isn’t just about feeling good.

    Feeling good is a symptom of self love,

    Not its equal.

Self love means you accept

    Your weaknesses

    And your strengths.

Be mindful, they say.

    How trite does that sound?

    And what the heck does it mean?
Mindful is the buzzword of self help these days.

It’s the big word of the new age of self help,

so to speak.

Next up for discussion is:

The difference between Want and Need

They aren’t the same.

Which is stronger want or need?

I need water, food, and shelter.

I used to say I want to be happy.

Now I realize,,

    big ah ha moment here,

    drum roll please

That I NEED to be happy.

And that,

    From what I have read

    And what I feel,

Is the essence of self love.

You may want to take care of yourself,

But what you really NEED is

To take care of yourself.

I want to write a poem or song every day.

That is true.

But what I;ve realized as I do it is

I NEED to do it.

I need to nurture my creativity

And writing begets writing.

The more I write, the more I write.

The more I create,

Fool around on the keyboard,

Make up silly songs,

Write in a journal,

Write quick poems and songs,

The more I do it,

The more whole I feel.

It is a way to nurture and take care of

Me.

And it is about damn time.