Your best friend ever, the one who is always beside you in good days and bad days, in success and failures, in joy and sadness, when it is light and when it is dark, is YOU, your authentic YOU. He is one who listens to you when everyone else is busy. He is the one who can tell you what’s right and wrong without having to ask anyone else. He is the one who taps on your back if no one acknowledges your achievements. He is the one who listens to your problems and try to solve them for you without even asking him to. He is the one who cares about you so much and he is with you 24/7/365. It is simply you, the real you, who is pure love and pure acceptance, without all the social Pavlovian conditioning.

These are three simple ways which you can use to connect to this special friend

• Spend time in silence: this creates unity awareness and mindfulness
• Write in a Journal: This nurtures self-awareness and reflections
• Treat  yourself: Treat yourself the way you would treat your best friend: This develops self-love and acceptance

At the end, remember the old saying: we can never give others what we don’t have ourselves. So before giving the gift of friendship and love to others, we must have it for ourselves. I leave you with this inspiring quote by Dr. Nathaniel Branden an authority and pioneer in the field of self-esteem:

“The first love affair we must consummate successfully is the one we have with ourselves. Only then are we ready for relationships, and only then will we be fully able to love and to let love in – to accept that other people love us. Without that confidence, another person’s love will never be quite real or convincing, and in our anxiety, we may find ways to undermine it.”