Despite my recent success with respect to an attitude adjustment, I realized that there was a long way to go before I achieved my dream of feeling and acting like a king. I desperately wanted to enhance my self-image and develop a noble character. And I was eager and showed a genuine willingness to learn.

Furthermore, I looked for self-improvement at every opportunity. Nonetheless, I still didn’t like much of what I saw when I looked into my mental mirror. To become like all, but far too few, truly self-confident people, I needed to learn to love myself.

The next day I journeyed to Agra, India. I energized just outside of the entrance of the Taj Mahal, one of the world’s most beautiful buildings. The Taj Mahal was considered to be the greatest masterpiece of Indian Mogul architecture.

I got out of the Corvette and went inside the Taj Mahal. Then I looked around the interior of the monumental edifice, which was designed to be a representation of the throne of God in paradise. I saw an elaborate double-dome structure and a white marble facade. And I was impressed by the mausoleum’s interior lighting—illumination through carved-marble screens, set near the tops of the walls.

As I stopped to look at the Taj Mahal’s unusual glowing illumination, I turned around, for a moment, and noticed a group of five tourists, who were standing together, several yards behind me. They were eyeballing me from afar, and it seemed that they were more interested in me than with their tour of the Taj Mahal. I said to myself, “If those people are so preoccupied with me, maybe I can give them a better reason to study me.”

I put my armored arms back over my shoulders and tightly clasped my metal gloves together, behind my neck. Then I lowered my head, just a little. Now it appeared to the on-looking tourists that I was embracing another knight. “When you lack self-esteem,” I said to myself, echoing a cold distaste for my self-love, “it’s a lot more fun to hug someone else. Lord, how is it that one could learn to love himself or herself? What can I do to get my head turned in the right direction?”

When God appeared, She asked, “Wantsalittle, why do have your arms and hands wrapped behind your neck? And why is your head bowed as if you were staring at something on the tile floor?”

“I’m just playing a little joke on some tourists—those people who are standing over there, in the distance, directly behind me.”

The Lord wasn’t amused. She said, “Whatever! . . . I’m here to discuss the matter of how you can come to love yourself. Wantsalittle, Nicholas de Chamfort wrote, ‘If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least fair to love yourself as your neighbor.’ Love is at the center of the universe. It is the magic behind all of the good that you do. Love mirrors everything positive within you and reflects all divine images of your true self.”

“I realize, Lord, that I must come to love myself before I’ll be able to love others.”

“Yes, Wantsalittle, you’re right on target. In his fabulous book, Dancing with the Divine, Robert Spinden said, ‘When love rules our hearts, it frees us to react to any situation with joy and peace and understanding, instead of bitterness, strife, self pity, or anger.’”

“God, I feel better about myself, already. What can You add to this loving message?”

“Through love, you can create anything that your heart desires. You can attract unlimited abundance. Try to love yourself, unconditionally. Keep in mind that the more love that you allow for yourself, the more love you’ll be able to give to others. As you think with the attitude of self-love, you will build your self-concept and have the ability to share your love with others, accordingly.”

“Thanks, Lord! I will try to focus on ways that I am worthy of my own love.”

When I spoke with God, the five tourists had walked over in my direction; they were now just a few feet away from me. The curious tourists could see that, in fact, my arms were simply draped over my shoulders and that my fingers were interlocked. They could readily see that I had just been kidding with them and that I had loved myself, all along!

With a little smirk on my face, I giggled and said to myself, “Thank you, Lord, for Your loving message. Loving myself isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be!”

(The moral of this episode: To build and to maintain self-confidence and self-esteem, you must first learn to love yourself. And you must love yourself before you can truly love others!)

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