Self-acceptance determines our level of happiness, but unfortunately for a lot of people self-acceptance is very hard, especially on days when we don’t feel good or made a mistake.
The good news is, self-acceptance is something that we can develop, nurture and achieve and with that significantly increase our level of happiness and fulfillment. Life is beautiful and every time we are able to accept something that didn’t go our way or accept a flaw that we discover, life stays beautiful. However, if we resist a mistake and struggle in vain against it, we lose our ability to enjoy life.
It’s really quite simple. In most situations we have a choice. We can either accept or reject, but it is important to keep in mind that rejection doesn’t change anything and will only cause pain, so isn’t it better to accept, learn and grow and move on?
Here are our TOP 10 techniques to achieve self-acceptance and make life more beautiful.
#1 Practice Awareness
In order to be able to accept yourself, you first need to be aware of who you are, your emotions, thoughts, feelings, values, desires, judgments and beliefs. Learn to become aware of what is going on within yourself and find out what you are made of. It’s the only place to start developing and achieving self-acceptance. Every day, take a few minutes to get quiet, close your eyes and simply focus on your breath. And then notice your emotions, feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. Don’t judge or filter, simply become aware. Don’t try to change them or push them away, practice awareness and enjoy the journey of self-exploration.
#2 Celebrate Your Strengths
Generally speaking we are much better in noticing our shortcomings than our strengths. Make it a point to find and appreciate your talents, abilities, skills and strengths, write them down and collect a list of strengths every single day. Are you kind? Are you intelligent? Are you creative? Are you articulate? Are you powerful? Make a list of all your strengths, all your achievements and accomplishments and all the lives that you have touched for the better. Keep this list close, read it often and add to it frequently. Celebrate your strengths and keep them in the forefront of your mind.
#3 Accept Your Imperfections
Nobody is perfect and just because you have some imperfections doesn’t mean you are unworthy. We can create incredible personal freedom if we can learn to accept our imperfections, embrace our neediness, own our insecurities or competitiveness and accept our OCD. Don’t try to hide them, but acknowledge them. This acknowledgement frees you from the anxiety of being found out and you can use the energy that is freed up by trying to cover up your imperfections to actually improve on your perceived flaws and make a change for the better.
#4 Forgive Yourself
We all have things in our past that we would love to change, but holding on to past regrets only prevents us from achieving self-acceptance. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and move on. You can’t change the past, all you can do is learn from your mistakes and make an effort to grow. We tend to be extremely harsh to ourselves, when we would have forgiven another person a long time ago. Why can’t we give ourselves the same courtesy? Think about it and learn to forgive yourself and your life will become exponentially lighter and happier.
#5 Silence Your Inner Critic
A lot of people mistake their inner critic for a voice of reason, but it is important to recognize that your inner critic isn’t always telling the truth. If your inner critic is telling you things about yourself that you would never say to a loved one, then your inner critic is most likely insincere and wrong. Quiet that harsh inner critic and remember that you are human and mistakes and imperfections aren’t failures, but opportunities to learn and grow.
#6 Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Self-acceptance is based on how we evaluate ourselves and we are incredibly vulnerable to how others perceive us and how they rate us. Stop that immediately and don’t compare yourself to others. Everybody has a different journey to live and competing with others is unhealthy and only leads to reminding us of our own inadequacies. Learn to accept yourself as you are and if you want to compare yourself to someone, compare yourself to the person you were yesterday. Make it a point to improve yourself every single day, even if it’s in the smallest of ways and stop comparing yourself to others, because it is a no-win situation.
#7 Release Expectations
We have certain beliefs about how life should look like and how we or the people we are surrounded with should or shouldn’t be and act. The way to developing self-acceptance is to release those expectations especially when they are wrong. We are who we are, no amount of wishful thinking or self-deception is going to change that. Holding on to wrong expectations doesn’t serve anyone, least of all you, so learn to let go and release those expectations, accept life as it is and accept yourself and others as they are.
#8 Create a Support System
Have a look at the people you surround yourself with. Are they reinforcing positivity in you or are they speaking negatively to you? Are they supportive of you or are they trying to hurt you? Distance yourself from the people who drain your energy and try to bring you down and surround yourself with the people who believe in you and accept you as who you are without trying to change you. It is detrimental to your goal of achieving self-acceptance that you have a support system that is there to help you on your journey.
#9 Practice Gratitude
Every morning when you wake up and every night right before you go to bed, take a few minutes and think about all the things you are grateful for and make sure that you include something about yourself. And even if you made a mistake or something went wrong, find something positive in that situation that you can be grateful for. None of us are perfect, so be grateful about your imperfection and appreciate the good. An attitude of gratitude is one of the most powerful things to achieve self-acceptance.
#10 Let Beauty In
Whenever you are focused on what’s wrong or lacking, you won’t be able to notice, appreciate and enjoy the beauty that is within and around you. Look around you, notice the beauty that’s there, notice all the wonderful things about you and learn to see and appreciate what you are and what you have instead of paying too much attention to what is wrong or what has been lost. Open up to what is truly important and positive. Most of us walk around with blinders and close ourselves off to the beauty of life, but it’s up to you to open up and explore and find paradise within yourself.
As you develop more self-acceptance, realize that self-acceptance is something that is always there for you, no matter what. And once you achieve self-acceptance, your life will be so much more satisfying and fulfilling. You can create the experiences you want, you can learn and grow, you can make connections with others and build meaningful relationships and you can enjoy everything you do a lot more.
LEARN TO ACCEPT ALL OF YOURSELF – THE ‘GOOD’ AND THE ‘BAD’
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked
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