Selfishness really gets a bad rep. The term conjures up a negative connotation; as if all one cares about in the world is him or she. But, if you think about it we are all inherently selfish. You need to be. There is nothing in this world that you do not do for yourself. There are definitely things we do that benefit others and that is, of course, ok.

Disagree, do you?

When was the last time you did anything beyond personal motivation? If threatened, you are acting out the particular for survival. All relationships carry some form of personal gain. Even the act of giving carries with it a personal attachment to the act. My point is that we often spend much of our time trying to pretend we don't have any personal gain in many of our life's endeavors. When we do this we forget to pay attention to the most important person in our lives: ourselves. This is not to imply that worrying about your self image is what is important, that is only another form of paying more attention to others. Ask yourself these questions:

How can you be a good parent if you don't take care of yourself?

How can you be a good lover if you don't take care of yourself?

How can you live your life if you don't pay attention of focus within yourself?