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Is the notion of self-love:
A. Horribly cliched and annoying?
B. Astonishingly helpful?
A thread.
A. Horribly cliched and annoying?
B. Astonishingly helpful?
A thread.
Correct answer is C: both.
I almost resent admitting this, but deploying strategies that I had long considered to be unforgivably cheesy — eg: counter-programming against the inner critic with warmth, gratitude, humor, and all manner of goo — has vastly improved both my inner weather and outer comportment.
The self-love (or self-compassion) thing is easier said than done, though. Easy to lapse into sloppiness or solipsism.
As treacly as it can be, I have come to see self-love/self-compassion as the uber-resolution— out of which all other habits (diet, exercise, yarn-bombing) can flow. Science backs this up. People motivated by self-compassion (rather than shame) are more likely to stick to goals.
The Buddhist critique of self-love is that there’s too much *self* in it— and that self-centeredness is the root of all suffering. I agree. Which is why I think, ultimately, the highest form of self-love is to turn down the volume on self-obsession. New Year, No You.
