To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. ~ Oscar Wilde

There are several ways in which this quote can be interpreted. In my eyes, it means that you are the only one that's constantly in your life. People may come and go, and you will get love from some of them, but ultimately you need to learn how to be happy with yourself. 

If you are happy with yourself, you can be in a relationship or single and still enjoy your life. If you are not happy with yourself, you will have a hard time feeling the love from others. Even if you have the most loving partner, you will not be able to enjoy that love if you don't have the love for yourself.  

When you come from a place of low self-confidence, you may wind up tolerating your partner's bad behaviors.  Doing this can further deplete your self-esteem.  Working in individual therapy can help you work on gaining more confidence and be ready for loving someone else. 

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. ~ Lucille Ball

Love quotes can be confusing, but this one is very clear. It's similar to the previous one because it emphasizes the importance of self-love.  As a therapist, I've seen the importance of self-love a lot. If you hope that you will find happiness and fulfillment by over-functioning so you can get people to love you, then you are set up for disappointments.

When you sacrifice for everyone else, but you run on empty, then your loved ones will sense your resentment deep down. Even if you do things for others just from the pure love, you take away the opportunity to from your loved ones to show you their love. 

Due to the upbringing that focuses on achievements instead of learning how to be happy, many women feel that they are not good enough and that they are not worthy of love unless they please everyone. 

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~ Robert Frost

As you like to feel desired, so does your partner. How do you show it to them? If you are like many women, you may be stuck in the mindset of not feeling that you are worthy of love. This kind of mindset may lead you to over-function in your relationships. 

Instead of enjoying your love, your partner may be struggling because of not knowing how to make you happy. How would it be if you become more vulnerable and allow your partner to please you? You would be giving them the biggest gift. It all goes back to self-love. 

If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues. ~ Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

We all want love, but we often go about it the wrong way. When you were a little girl, you learned that you need to be a nice girl in order to get love. When you grow up like this, you struggle to know what your real feelings are. 

In order to get the love you truly want, you need to let yourself be vulnerable and allow your partner to see who you really are. You will come across as more genuine and your partner can feel more connected to you.   

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. ~ Victor Hugo

Only when you reveal yourself and allow yourself to be vulnerable your partner can love you fully for who you are. What can be more rewarding than being seen and loved exactly as you are. 

If you have baggage from the past, it can be very difficult. Your fears may cause you to hide in your shell. Dealing with these fears can help you be more open to true love and happiness that comes from it. I provide therapy that focuses on helping you be able to address those fears and enjoy love and life.  

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu

This love quote is quite clear. When we know that someone loves us deeply, it helps us feel supported. We can carry this feeling into the world and this enables us to be resilient. 

On the other hand, loving someone takes courage because we have no guarantees that we won't get hurt. And, it's most likely that we will get hurt at some point. 

If you work on yourself, you can develop emotional intelligence that will help you recognize who is a good partner for you and who isn't. This kind of work also helps you figure manage better when you get hurt. 

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. ~ James A. Baldwin

This love quote may not be so inspiring, but it teaches us a lot about life and relationships. When we fall in love we have these preconceived notions about how things should work based on how media portraits relationships. We are also blinded by romantic feelings and expectations. 

When real life starts happening, we feel disappointed and we may struggle to maintain the romance in the relationship. There are so many other chores and issues demanding our attention, but it's important to remember that we need to work on our relationship. Just like you prioritiese your children, work, and household, it's important to prioritize your relationship as well. Nurturing emotional bond with your partner is essential. 

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Maintaining your own clear identity is essential for a successful relationship. You can do this by maintaining your own interests, friends, hobbies, etc. When you just start dating someone, it's natural that two of you are like two peas in a pod. This honeymoon can't last forever. 

Differentiation is a natural stage in our relationships. One or both partners start pursuing personal interests. This kind of development may trigger some old wounds in one or both partners.

Many couples struggle in this stage. If you overcome it, you can build an even better relationship. My approach in couples counseling addresses developmental stages in relationships. 

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. ~ Aristotle

Love and togetherness don't take away your identity. It adds to it. You just become more complex. It may hard to maintain this balance between you as a member of a couple and you as a person. Sometimes you may feel that this togetherness takes away your identity. 

The trouble is that many of us carry this mindset of black and white thinking. "If I'm with someone, then I lose myself." This doesn't need to be the case. Both identities can coexist.

The fact is that in good relationships partners help each other be the best individuals. And, another important note, remember to nurture your relationship and emotional bond.