My therapist has said I need to work on "Self Love" and I should "Fall in love with myself". I don't get what she means, how can you love yourself?
Well, think about what happens when we love. We excuse flaw. We try to see the good in another. We have faith in their ability and worth as an individual. Etc. To love yourself is to give yourself permission to not be perfect, appreciate the positives more than you reject the negatives, and to find enough contentment in yourself that you have no desire to be anything other than what you are.
i agree with what gen said also one thing find what u dont like about urself either physicaly or mentaly and try to change it.. for instance u dont have abs ? yet u need them to feel beautiful ? EXERCISE u find somethign disturbing about ur personality find its core and alter it etc.. this is how i try to change because i personaly TRY HARD to find self love even thow i see myself as an evil being...
Treat yourself with the same consideration that you would offer a loved one. For example, my brother doesn't have enough self-love. If I make a mistake, he's usually quick to assure me that it's OK, that he's not mad at me, etc. But if he makes a mistake, he starts telling himself that he's a horrible person and deserves horrible treatment for what he's done.
As far as I knew, "Self-love" was a polite way of saying "Masturbation." Anyway, you have to be able to love yourself for who you are before you can love someone else.
The love you can have for yourself can only come from knowing who you are. From this knowledge you find that there is good in you. So that is the thing you need to love. I phrased it thus: "the thing you need to love", it is a task, an action that needs to be taken, to love is a verb, not just something you fall into. Loving yourself means taking care of yourself, with compassion. I means responding to your needs when you need them. It means respecting who you are, and respecting who you want to become. All of the above requires, demands that you know yourself and that you have compassion for yourself.
I agree with what Gen said. I am also working on learning to love myself. It seems that it should be so easy, but its difficult too.
If there's something you dont like about yourself, evaluate it. If it's something that can be changed, change it - because you want to help yourself. If it's something that can't be changed, you need to learn how to accept it and be confident about it, rather than be ashamed/embarassed/etc. Dont be harsh on yourself for making mistakes, etc etc.. Imagine you love someone, and they are going on about how they are so ugly, or how they are so dumb, or whatever.. but you love them.. you help them where you can, and where they're just being overly critical of themselves, you reassure them. It's that , except the person is you. Try to see yourself from outside your own possibly negative/overinflated/whatever view of yourself