Re: self love - self acceptance and self esteem

I think that you are trying to find a way to view yourself in a way that you can be proud of. It seems that you already know it cannot be fake, because that won't help you.

Self honesty is not easy, we are tempted to take shortcuts.

Be yourself, and be proud that you are being yourself instead of creating an image of yourself. This will be enduring and I am sure you will find that everyone else appreciates your genuine persona.

It is not so obvious what it means to "be yourself" though, is it? That is something that we discover as we go through life, and it can change too. Mostly, we discover what "being ourself" means by stripping away all the fake stuff, including the persona that other people put on you based on what you show them.

So stop trying to find an image. Be yourself! Some people use the meditation practise of emptying the mind of all thoughts [not an easy thing for humans to do!] and then while sitting there doing nothing but breathing, you have found "yourself".




---------------

PS - "another definition of self love" -
I knew someone who believed in self love... he spank the monkeyd 10 or 15 times a day. Thats not healthy, at least I don't think so. His bizarre sexuality came about as a result of being raped by a male teacher [and the guy was not even gay], so his true self was stuffed away and hid because he was so full of shame and guilt. He believed that self-gratification was reaffirming self love, but really it was sort of escapism or a symptom of his mental illness.
I do not think that self-gratification is self love at all.

-----------------

Tweet