Summary: Becoming your own best friend is the topic of this episode. As the Buddha taught, no one is dearer to you than yourself. We should extend the love we already have for ourselves, toward others. Why? Because they are just as valuable and worthy of loving-kindness as we ourselves are. We should love others no more or no less than we love ourselves. The problem is that we love ourselves with attachment, clinging to what we like about ourselves and adverse to what we don’t like. In order to make any real progress in loving others, we need to learn to love ourselves with no attachments. Text: “On traversing all directions with the mind, one finds no one anywhere dearer than oneself. Likewise everyone holds himself most dear, hence one who loves himself should not harm another.” - Ud 5.1 Outline: Introduction I. Being honest with yourself. II. Having compassion for yourself. III. Having a sense of humor toward yourself. IV. Respecting yourself. Conclusion
