You must learn to love yourself before you can love others. It seems to be an age old lesson we must learn through experience. Love can be so large and powerful it’s unbelievable to comprehend. Its sum is greater than the parts. When nurtured it keeps growing beyond all limits. But as all things must be, it needs a solid foundation on which to live or it will topple. Sharing our lives, learning to communicate and nurture one another are not enough. Your foundation must be girded by the strength of your character.

The best way to insure that you maintain a love of yourself is to live up to the standards of honesty and integrity that you set. Make the bar high and take no shortcuts when it comes to life. Even if your intentions start out for good, the price of such unresolved transgressions multiplies. The cost is that you lose a little more of yourself each day until you make a change or vanish altogether. Do not lose yourself because there is no one on earth you will ever try harder to find.

Being lost is like being out in the middle of the sea. The smallest waves blot the horizon from sight. You desperately need the support of loved ones. Some will cut you lose because they won’t take the risk of you pulling them under. Others you push away yourself because you don’t want to hurt them. And some would rather die then ever let you go. In any event, the result is the same. You must eventually learn to swim. Whether you do so early or recklessly wait until you reach the bottom you must learn.

Finding yourself is like returning home after a long absence. Surroundings are familiar but things have changed. The furniture has been moved and the decorations are different. Some things have been repaired while other things need new work. It hurts to think about even the smallest things that have been missed. You will never be the same. You can’t go back to what you were before your descent. You will be stronger and wiser going forward, but the pain of what you have lost will never leave you.

Always be true to the ones you love. But just as important, always be true to yourself. Don’t be ashamed to admit your hardships and shortcomings with them. We are all doomed to fall every once and again. It’s how we grow. But when you begin to stumble more and more, realize you have a problem and need help. Don’t wait for a magical force to pick you up. Face the world head on, but keep your morale compass in hand. Do this and the people that love you most will see you through.

I was taken by the scene I witnessed yesterday. The dogwoods are in full bloom. Downtown streets are lined with beautifully flowered white trees. The tireless cycle of life goes on. Winter draws to an end and springtime is about to take over. Every season gives way to the next. All things appear to have a beginning and an end. Some say that love has no bounds. Perhaps we fool ourselves to think that we have the ability to actually create something immortal. William Shakespeare wrote “The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones.”

The fact remains, mountains will crumble into the sea and rivers will alter the course in which they flow. Few things in life are constant for the sands of time will claim them all. Through the ages even the earth will shift but the past we cannot change. Only love can withstand the tides of time.

Dreams of the future are the anchors in life. They give us direction through the fog of today. They give us happiness even in times of sorrow. They give us promises of joy and fulfillment. But to do all these things, dreams must also be accompanied with hope. For without hope, dreams are only painful images of what will never be.