Discovering Ourselves through Others
Discovering Ourselves through Others Popular wisdom says that without sufficient self-love, one cannot love others. This is backed by research which suggests that we see ourselves in the other. What it means to say is that our feelings about ourselves affect our feelings about others. Some people may even conclude saying that we love others to the extent that we love ourselves. So, how do we actually make the transition from loving ourselves to loving others? The psychologist, Daniel Goleman, in his book ‘Emotional Intelligence’ hints as to how our emotional health affects the way we relate to others. When we develop our emotional intelligence, we open ourselves to a wide variety of emotions. It is only when we understand these emotions that we can empathise with the people around us. That is the first stage of love – love of others. It helps us become altruistic. Our growth in altruism, according to psychologists, begins when we are infants. This growth is quite natural t...