SELF-ACCEPTANCE

 WHAT IS SELF-ACCEPTANCE

Let me start with what self-acceptance is not. Accepting something does not mean that you have to like it. The reality is that self-acceptance actually helps to facilitate change. That may sound counter intuitive. Just think about it for a moment. Accepting yourself covers a lot of ground. One must be willing to look in the mirror and not see the problems that you may want to change. First look at the good. It may take actually sitting down and writing all of the good things about yourself. No one else needs to read it. As the author, you just need to believe in the words that you write from your heart. 

It does not mean that there are no imperfections. It means to truly have unconditional self-acceptance and to accept imperfections and all. Is anyone I know perfect? How about you? Is anyone that you know perfect? I don't know about you but there are actually people out there who believe they are perfect and have no problem with self-acceptance. Where their problem is that they can't accept that others know they are not perfect (or eventually will find out). Just be kind. Perhaps at some point it will kick in and they will understand that there are at least ten signs of self-acceptance. I am sure there are more, however, I found a list of ten to share.

• self-accepting people are happy people
• self-accepting people go out of their way
• self-accepting people are always open to being loved and complimented
• self-accepting people are empowered to be their 'real selves.'
• self-accepting people accept themselves as they are right now
• self-accepting people are able to laugh at themselves, often and easily
• self-accepting people have the ability to recognize and attend to their own needs
• self-accepting people are self-determining people
• self-accepting people are in good contact with reality
• self-accepting people are assertive

Some descriptive words that come to my mind when I think of self-acceptance are: trust, observe, appreciate, accept, care, attend, engage, embrace, allow, express, liberate, share, encourage...and yes, there are so many more!

There truly is no amount of self improvement that can make up for any lack of self acceptance. I know that I have many self improvement books and do they help? Yes, they do but only after I understand that I must first be self-accepting of the ME right now. My diet is not only what I eat. It is what I watch, what I listen to, what I read, the people I associate with...I have learned that I must be mindful of the things that I put  into my body emotionally, spiritually and physically. They all connect! They all are important and need to work together.

This is the power of self-acceptance.  Our relationship with ourselves is the most powerful of all. Other relationships will not be able to thrive if we don't work on self-acceptance. It is what helps me in becoming successful in my dreams. 

 

These quotes on self-acceptance are strong and proven to be true. It took quite a hard look for me to see just how true this kind of outlook on life is to move forward. Do I always feel this way? Not just no, but hell no. I can have my moments where I have to let myself have a pity party and then work on how I will begin looking in the mirror and accepting me for who and what I am. 

As taken from Vironika Tugaleva, an author of self-help books interestingly enough, she believes that we work hard to fix ourselves but just maybe what we need is not another plan or book to be fixed. Maybe what is holding us back is the idea that we need to be fixed. Once we let go of that concept and just accept ourselves and know that we don't need to be accepted by others then that wanted desire of ours can go to another level and begin to happen over time. 

"Self-acceptance is not the end. It's the beginning."

Nataly Kogan