What is LOVE?

A poor image of ourselves attracts predators. Learn to love yourself fully before you look for someone else to. Also, is it really fair to ask someone to love you when you don't even love yourself? Food for thought. ~Richard Lawrence of Young, Black, and Married

October is Domestic Violence awareness month, and I would like to take a few blogs to discuss this matter with you all. While browsing on Facebook, I came across a few things. This picture to the left and this quote above.

Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are a beautiful couple. He fought valiantly to obtain her hand in marriage. She was a sassy, outspoken woman with a will and opinion of her own. What if after the wedding and a few months of "loving" each other, Aladdin's insecurities began to unravel? What if this happened to Princess Jasmine? It does everyday. Every day, women are abused and assaulted in their homes by Prince Aladdin. Nobody ever expects such behavior from him, after all look at how hard he worked to woo her and win her heart. Surely he would never hurt her! Maybe all of her outspokenness and passion were her insecurities fighting their way to the surface as well.

As Richard stated, A poor image of ourselves attracts predators. Learn to love yourself fully before you look for someone else to. No, it is never the victims fault that they are being abused. It is important to know how you view yourself and how you are perceived while you are dating. Narcissists will not attempt to attach themselves to a person that they can not manipulate.

After you've lived through this experience once, it is easy to fall back into negative relationship patterns if you are not vigilant. Richard says it best, ...is it really fair to ask someone to love you when you don't even love yourself? Food for thought. Take time to heal and rebuild. Being single and happy is very possible. Loving yourself again is very possible. Don't allow anyone to teach you how to love yourself especially if it is detrimental to your overall health and well being. You should love yourself so much that you don't allow anyone to trample on you again. Be selective about who you allow into your life. If you or someone that you know are being abused and you are ready to get out, please leave and get to a safe location and reach out to your local domestic violence shelter for counseling and assistance. If you do not know how to locate these services, dial 211 for assistance. If you are in a domestic violence situation and you have no family in the area, please dial 211 and someone will be able to get you to the resources that you need to get out safely.