The ancient sages at Delphi always stated to their visitors: ‘know thyself’.  No doubt these are wise words, but should we take it further, we could also ‘love thyself’ explicitly so that we can love others. If you don’t love yourself, you won’t have that deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.  However, if you become friends with yourself, which is certainly no easy feat, then you can find that there is no obstacle to opening your heart and your mind to others. To have compassion and to practice it outwardly is the key to your happiness as well as to the happiness of those around you.