ARE YOU SELFISH OR SELF-FULL?

I recently came across an article that I felt was worth keeping & I’ll let you know why. The article was about an author & the first editor of MS Magazine Suzanne Braun Levine, who just turned 50 and was celebrating the “change of life” & her newly felt sense of liberation. She has a new book titled “Fifty Is the New Fifty” a self guided 10 step program to encourage women to celebrate themselves & focus less on anti-aging. One theme really got my immediate attention and it does not just relate to women.

I define someone as selfish as a person who is heavily focused on satisfying their own needs first & foremost & often ignoring the needs of others. They tend to be very self absorbed & self centered. The “center of the universe” as if everything revolves around them. Do you know someone who fits this description in your life? Are you guilty of this concept?

“Self-full” means to put yourself first on the list & to take better care of you. Being self-full really means that you become aware & learn to master how to sustain yourself without being selfish to others. Ms. Braun Levine illustrates this point with an example she called “the oxygen mask lesson.” For your own safety, as a passenger on a plane you are instructed to put the oxygen mask on first & then proceed to help others. The message is that you need enough oxygen to sustain yourself; otherwise you will not be able to sustain others.

Take the time to be mindful if you are being selfish or becoming self-full. There is a definite distinction & you will benefit from being aware of who you truly are.