Where is the love? (from Erica)

Self-love has turned into a big thing in hegemonic America, but only to a certain extent. We're extolled to love the skin we're in, indulge in some quality time one-on-one with ourselves, and appreciate the qualities in our physical and mental attributes that make us unique. Of course, many of the corporations etc. telling us this are hoping that we'll only do so after the use of their product: Dove will make us love our skin, portable TVs will give us that alone time, and foods and beverages such as Subway and energy drinks will allow us to fully appreciate and be ourselves. And if we're not going to use these products to attain pure happiness, then we're obviously miserable and rightly so!

It doesn't help, of course, that even the self-help books on self-love require us to spend money to acquire them in the first place- either by purchasing the books or by owning or renting property in a public library's jurisdiction. We still need to consume, apparently, to love ourselves.

Thus there's a certain level of contradiction in what I'm about to do, given that it requires the answerer to have access to the internet, but whatever. Today's questions are about YOU and the things you LOVE about YOU:

• What are some of your favourite physical qualities?
• What are some of your favourite emotional or personal qualities?
• What is one thing you love about yourself in spite of the criticism of others?
• What is one thing you would never change about your appearance?

I hope this mini seminar on self-love gives you the free (or at least free minus the cost of the internet) boost in your self-perception that you need for today!