Self-Acceptance

What are the inherit issues related to self-acceptance? Why are we so hard on ourselves and feel the sadness of self-doubt and insecurities? Who is this person inside this physical body? Do we love who we are physically, emotionally, spiritually? What can we do to believe in the beauty of our being? These are just some of the questions that may arise as we search for the answers in daily living.

As we explore the concept of self-acceptance, one must understand the lessons learned from their past history, illnesses, and emotions to be able to grow in strength and wisdom. The significance of one's past history cannot be dismissed. Historical events can have a lasting effect on one's outlook on self and life in general. Parents may influence their children's self-esteem by simple words or actions. Illness can shift a person's whole focus on life either physically or emotionally. A traumatic event, such as divorce, or death of a loved one can also impact one's being. All of these past events are part of every one's life and can produce intense negative emotions that are held onto in daily living. These negative feelings from the past events can trigger the insecurities of self-doubt as similar situations occur in present time. Understanding where these emotions and feelings are coming from and that past events can suddenly trigger similar feelings in the present can help in allaying the self-doubt. There are some steps that can be taken to help in decreasing the impact of historical events. First, recognizing where these feelings are coming from can help decrease the intensity of the emotion. Knowing that past events have triggered the current feelings can allow you the space to heal and look at the present situation with a different attitude. Second, ask the question of what lessons can be learned from the past. The question and answers need to be phrased in a non-biased, matter of fact way without getting into typical answers like, "to show how stupid I am," or "because I'm a bad person." Answer the question that would show loving kindness towards you, you may want to answer it as if you were answering for another person. (We are often kinder towards others than ourselves). One answer may be, "I understand now that I wanted so much to be loved that I married the wrong person and I will learn to understand this feeling and make better choices in the future," or "I don't understand why I had to become ill, but it taught me how to be aware of the importance of taking care of myself."

Honor and respect the lessons of the past and learn to support yourself the way you would support others with similar situations. As per Lee Kaiser, one can "change" their past by focusing more on the lessons learned. This creates a new way of looking at the past and promotes healing in a positive way instead of only looking at the past negatively as a victim.

How would you respond to another individual that had similar situations in life and feelings of insecurities and self-doubt? Look at yourself with the same eyes and know you are a good lovable person.

Self-acceptance means being kind to yourself.
Self-acceptance means honoring yourself.
Self-acceptance means respecting yourself.
Self-acceptance means nurturing yourself.
Self-acceptance means surrendering and releasing the past.
Self-acceptance means forgiving yourself.
Self-acceptance means believing in yourself.
Self-acceptance means accepting your humanness.
Self-acceptance means choosing to see your beauty.
Self-acceptance means appreciating your uniqueness.
Self-acceptance means focusing on the positive not the negative in yourself.
Self-acceptance means being patient with yourself.
Self-acceptance means being able to say you like yourself.
Self- acceptance means being able to say you love yourself.
Self-acceptance means loving yourself.