Metta Meditation: Put a Little Self Love in Your Heart

Photograph by Igor Ovsyannykov

A simple, time-tested technique to summon feelings of love and gratitude for yourself and for everyone you encounter

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Loving yourself, although praised by psychologists and Buddhists alike, is something many people struggle with; if it weren’t, I don’t think there would be so many books and articles about self-esteem.

Lack of self-love is unfortunate, because loving yourself is cost-free, zero calories. It feels good and is good for you. Many of us bristle slightly at the idea, as if it were somehow self-indulgent. We imagine a slippery slope into self-absorption or unattractive narcissism. What most people find undesirable is actually self-cherishing (i.e. selfishness). This is very different from loving yourself in the Buddhist sense. The kind of self-love described by Buddhists doesn’t really have a direct analogue in western religion or philosophy, and as