It is not a secret for anyone that life offers us multiple ways of development and self-realization. A person without aims and zest to spiritual growth sooner or later starts feeling that something is missing from his life, even thought at first sight everything looks ok. It is an obvious sign of the necessity to change something and to think over your natural and real needs, not those dictated by the society or your family.
Freedom and harmony with your own self and the world around you are impossible without three things. The first thing is a constant feeling that you are a part of this world, and the world has a great number of aspects. If you do not accept some of its aspects, why do you think the world will accept you as you are? So, taking life as it is and being wise in changing it, is the first step to harmony and freedom.
The second thing is following your real wishes and needs, which sometime is very difficult to identify and to take out from under the layers of social attitudes. You have to find out what is good for you, not what the people think is. If you feel that you want to plant cabbages on the river bank somewhere in the middle of America, instead of having juridical practice in New York, you won’t be happy until you fulfill you wish, even though juridical practice looks more attractive and reasonable for everyone. Not for you, though.
The third and the most important thing is to love your own personality with all its drawbacks and imperfection, which is the basis of love to the world and other people. If you do not accept yourself as you are, it is hard to love other people deeply and sincerely, without egoistic “he-or-she-is-my-property” attitude. Love to yourself also means constant spiritual and social growth, since the wish to do the best for the person you love (yourself this time) is more than natural.