One cannot love others unless ...

It's important to realize that we don't always know how to love ourselves. Loving ourselves implies self-care, self-respect and taking responsibility for how we conduct ourselves in our relationships. To act in this way we need to get to know and accept who we are. Until we know how to love ourselves, we lack the essential model for what it means to love, and therefore loving another isn't possible. What often makes loving ourselves a difficult process is that we've been taught to focus on our weaknesses in a negative way. Others may have criticized us and pointed out our defects without emphasizing our virtues. Perhaps this was done in order to help us correct our faults or to prevent our being "spoiled" as children.

Every relationship requires mutual and continuous work. When one or both partners cease working on the relationship, it suffers and fails. Love is built day by day and grows with the years. Though the passion of youth may diminish, the time spent together unites a couple even more, as does the recognition that nothing is more precious than enjoying the company of the one you love. My most basic advice is to never forget to dedicate yourselves to each other to appreciate, support, and enjoy each other. And to live every moment intensely, appreciating that special person that life gave you.

- Dr. Ana Nogales