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Old Jun 27, 2022, 07:16 PM
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Skeezyks Skeezyks is offline
Disreputable Old Troll
 
Member Since: Oct 2015
Location: The Star of the North
Posts: 32,762
You asked how you look at your worst features and still love yourself. And you mentioned thoughts that only lasted a few seconds. You know... thoughts are just thoughts. They are like dark clouds that pass briefly before the sun. They have no real substance except for that which we grant them. (The Buddhist nun Pema Chodron has written extensively on this sort of thing.)

Everyone has dark thoughts from time-to-time, probably more of them than most of us would care to admit. I know I certainly do. But if all a person has is dark thoughts weighing them down, then (at least from my perspective) they're doing pretty darn well! It's those of us who have acted on those dark thoughts that (IMHO) have the really heavy crosses to bear, so to speak.

How to you still love yourself? Well... therapy is one obvious answer I suppose. A consistent meditation practice, ideally guided by a skilled meditation master, can help too. But perhaps the most practical means is via good works. If you can find ways of being of help to others in need, for one thing, you'll be too busy to worry about momentary dark thoughts; but also you'll know that, despite your momentary dark thoughts (which everyone has anyway), you're being of genuine benefit to others. That, it seems to me, is the royal road to self-respect and self-love.
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"I may be older but I am not wise / I'm still a child's grown-up disguise / and I never can tell you what you want to know / You will find out as you go." (from: "A Nightengale's Lullaby" - Julie Last)