When I Began To Love Myself – Poem By Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin once wrote a poem that offers a fantastic lesson on personal growth, and it begins like this:

During the course of history, there was a time when the art world, the research world and the cultural world had two names that stood out from the rest. These were Charlie Chaplin and Sigmund Freud.

If Charlie Chaplin had a famous and admired face, Freud had the seemingly most brilliant mind.

Both of these characters were so famous that for many years Hollywood tried to get the father of psychoanalysis involved in a project. The year was 1925 when the head of MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Samuel Goldwyn, called Freud to congratulate him on his work and publications. He called him “the world’s greatest specialist in love.”

He then asked Freud to collaborate on a new project by helping with an evaluation: ” Antony and Cleopatra”. Goldwyn offered him over $100,000, but Freud declined. The psychoanalyst was so outraged by this type of art that he began to think he hated movies and the entire film industry.

But in 1931 , Sigmund Freud wrote a letter to a friend, revealing his deep admiration for someone he called a “genius.” Someone who for him seemed to show the world man’s most admirable and inspiring transparency. It was Charlie Chaplin.

In the letter, Freud superficially analyzed what Chaplin projected about himself in his films. Someone from a humble background who worked hard in childhood, but still steps into maturity with strongly defined values.

So no matter what kind of hardship he went through every day, Chaplin would always have a humble heart. That is why, despite setbacks and a complex, unequal society, he always solved his problems with love.

We do not know if Freud was right or not in his analysis. But this was at least what Chaplin seemed to show in his films, and especially his poems. True teachings about wisdom and personal growth.

They said that Charlie Chaplin wrote the poem “When I Began to Love Myself” when he was 70 years old. But according to other people, it may not have been written by him, and is instead a free adaptation of a paragraph in the book “When I Loved Myself Enough” by Kim and Allison McMillen.

In any case, it is worth saying that this is not the only text by Charlie Chaplin in which he created such a beautiful text about power and the value of our minds. In fact, we even have the poem “Live!” It reminds us, among other things, that the world belongs to those who dare to take it. To live is not just to go through life, but to fight, feel, experience, love.

So it does not matter if the poem is an adaptation of another or if it came from the mind and heart of this iconic genius, who captivated us with his movements, his mustache and his cane.

Charlot ( bum ) – the run-down nature, the lonely wanderer, poet and dreamer who is always looking for romance or adventure, had an extremely clear mind behind all this. The mind of a man with very clear ideas and messages he wanted to convey. And what he gave us with his productions is in line with every word in this poem.

In his memoirs, he actually talks about how each aspect of his character’s costume had a meaning:

• His pants were a challenge of conviction.
• His hat and cane were an attempt to appear worthy.
• The little mustache a hint of vanity.
• His shoes the adversities that constantly get in people’s way.

Something Charlie Chaplin always tried to do through the innocence of his character was to raise our awareness. To awaken us from the complex paradoxes of the world. A place where only human, psychological forces can confront meaninglessness, inequality or evil.

We see something like this in “The Dictator”. This is where he invites us to connect with ourselves and all other people. To not only defend our rights, but the rights of our planet.

Even today, Charlie Chaplin’s legacy is ever present. In fact, it will always be necessary and irreplaceable. For the lessons learned in tragicomics are the ones that make us think the most. And poems like “When I Began to Love Myself” are gifts to the heart, direct invitations to improve ourselves.

When I started to love myself, I understood that in all circumstances I am in the right place at the right time, and that everything happens at just the right moment. So I could be calm. Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE “.

When I began to love myself, I found that anguish and emotional suffering were only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today I know that this is “AUTHENTICITY”.

As I began to love myself, I stopped longing for another lie, and I could see that everything around me invited me to grow. Today I call it ” MATURE”.

When I began to love myself, I realized how much it can offend a person if I try to force on that person my desires, even though I knew the time was not right and that the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was I. Today I call it “RESPECT”.

When I began to love myself, I freed myself from everything that is not good for my health – food, people, things, situations and everything that weighed me down and away from myself. First, I called this attitude healthy selfishness. Today I know that it is “SELF-LOVE”.

When I started loving myself, I stopped stealing my own time, and I stopped designing big projects for the future. Today I only do what gives me joy and happiness, things I love to do and what makes my heart rejoice, and I do them in my own way and with my own rhythm. Today I call it ” SIMPLICITY”.

When I started loving myself, I stopped trying to always be right, and since then I have been less wrong. Today I discovered that it is “HUMILITY”.

When I began to love myself, I refused to continue living in the past and worrying about the future. Now I live only for the moment, where everything happens. Today I live every day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.

As I began to love myself, I realized that my mind could disturb me and make me sick. But when I connected with my heart, my mind became a valuable friend. Today I call this band “THE WISDOM OF THE HEART”.