Be Selfish.

I mean it because seriously, we’re giving way too much importance to positive emotions and ignoring their antitheses. The human mind is this endless pit of complex emotions that are simply too convoluted, too intricately linked to the base need for survival that a perfect understanding is near to impossible. In the end, when you do this complete analysis of everything that’s going on inside your head, you just end up asking yourself if there really is an inflexible wall that separates good and bad.

We’ve all been selfish at some point in our lives. We have to be, because if we’re not our first priority, our survival is at risk. Big time.

But then, there’s this huge emphasis on selflessness when we look at spiritual texts. To treat  your neighbor as you would yourself. To understand the oneness of the universe, that all of us are one. But how does one override this human instinct?

Do we fight it? From personal experience, I would say this hasn’t worked for me. It just keeps popping up at the most unexpected times, because the more I resisted it, the more it fought back.

So what do I do?

I use it.

Firstly, I sorted out my priorities. I had two choices before me. One, was to live in the mundane world  that I’d created inside my own head, where everyone plotted against everyone, and hold close the material goods that were sure to disappear the more I clung to them. Second, was to realize that my one true property was my own mind, and that the best gift I could give to myself was peace. And because I was at ease, I could finally see the truth – that the world was anything but mundane, that it was mysterious and full of miracles.

So, I started being selfish.

I loved the people around me because it was so liberating to love. I gave them smiles and soothing words, because seeing them happy and being the cause of that happiness was, for the lack of a better word, magical. And I refrained from passing cutting remarks or cruel judgments, because I felt so much better when I looked for the ray of sunshine and found it where others could see only darkness.

I became selfish, so I could claim this peace for my own heart.

But I know that one day, I’ll love this universe just for the sake of loving the universe.

Because you see, in the end, we truly are one and the same. Don’t take my word for it. Go ahead and give love, and you’ll see for yourself.