I repeat Myself. I am not forgetful. I repeat Myself in as many ways as I can think of. I do this because I so want what I say to sink into your heart and mind. Do you mind very much that I repeat myself?
If I were a golf instructor, I would show the same thing to you time and time again. And you would practice. Eventually what I taught you would become a natural part of you as you play golf. You would no longer have to hear My words. You would not have to think about anything I said. You would not have to think: “I am a golfer learning all the many strokes of golf,” any more than you will have to say: “I am a human being on Earth learning how to be the best I can be, for my sake and for the sake of all concerned. I have a Super Pro who coaches me from on High. And my stance in life keeps rising until I, too, am a pro.”
You’ve heard this before, and I am going to say it again. “You cannot love anyone more than you love yourself.” To say it another way: “You can only love another as much as you love yourself.”
That’s the crux of it all.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” is great advice only so long as you do think well of yourself and meet with your own approval. If you find yourself lacking, how well will you think of your neighbor? All the plaudits from your neighbors may make you feel good, yet, they, the supposed they, your neighbors, no matter how they may want to, cannot raise your picture of yourself. Your neighbors can try, and you can try. You can uplift yourself for a while. Your ego is appeased for a while.
It is necessary to love yourself from the depths of your own self. We are not speaking of trying. Trying doesn’t work, or doesn’t work well or enough. When you cease to judge yourself, then you will stop judging your neighbor or think you know it all about your neighbors even ten thousand miles away. So long as you are on the surface of life, you can only judge the surface. So long as you are on a train, you are on the train. What you see from a window is a passing thing, for you, a passenger, zoom past what you see. You may give a superficial glance.
And when you look in the mirror, you see the surface of yourself. You may be a model or a movie actor. You may be superbly made up, and you like what you see in the mirror, or, you may see all your flaws in the mirror. You may see yourself looking fat in the mirror for you are looking, not to be pleased, but to be displeased.
You are asking: “What can I do to improve myself?” You are likely not asking: “What do I like of myself that I see in the mirror?” any more than you ask: “What do I like about my neighbor?”
Your tendency may be to think more along the lines of: “What is there in my neighbor that bears renovation?” What you focus on is what you get. You may well already know this, yet you forget.
What you focus on is what you see. By and large, you will see what you are looking for.
You can love everyone, or you can find fault with everyone. That’s easy for you to do, am I right? Now, what are you going to do about it? Turn theory into action, beloveds. Look higher, and you are elevated.