Some people might read this column’s headline and think it is self-indulgent and not appropriate for the month of love. However, self-love must be present before we can love others. The greatest impediment to self-love is shame. The late John Bradshaw, counselor and motivational speaker, explains “the feeling of shame has a demonic potential to encompass our whole personality … a person can come to believe that his (or her) whole self is fundamentally flawed and defective.”