Spiritual

Developing Self-Acceptance

by Aishwarya Shah

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” 
― Lao Tzu

When you accept yourself with all of your flaws and unique talents, the world seems to become a more accommodating place. You’ll find that some of the causes of your stress disappear and you can gain more joy on a daily basis.

Accepting yourself completely entails courage, wisdom, and compassion. If you’re plagued by negative emotions such as anxiety, jealousy, shame, anger, envy, or guilt, these may be signs of low self-esteem. To counter this, you can learn radical self-acceptance.

If you find yourself equating your worth with your achievements, love life or social status, what happens if these are someday diminished? After all, these are temporary conditions. Life has its ups and downs. Practicing self-acceptance will help prevent your self-worth from hinging on your current situation.

How Low Self-Esteem Can Hinder Self-Acceptance

If you have low self-esteem, you can get mired in refusal to accept your own uniqueness and capability for transformation. You may be a perfectionist, and when things don’t go well, you often tell yourself that you’re not good enough. It becomes a vicious cycle of negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

So what can you do to turn this around?

Suppose you start to appreciate the world around you. Then you’re aware of your place. You realize that just as others are important to your well-being, your existence supports others, too. Since appreciation is a prerequisite for self-esteem, you’re now well on your way to self-acceptance.

For instance…

“I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘Well, if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry.’ If we all hold on to the mistake, we can’t see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can’t see what we’re capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one’s own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you. When a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white or too poor or too fat or too thin or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.” 
― Maya Angelou

How to Develop Self-Acceptance

To develop self-acceptance, you must believe in your intrinsic worth and uniqueness. There’s no one else in the world quite like you and you’re constantly changing and developing. Your value cannot be measured by how others perceive you.

You’re also aware of the fallibility of human nature. No one is perfect. Even enlightened souls such as The Mahavir, Christ, and The Buddha had to struggle to achieve their goals. Likewise, you must also work to improve yourself. Let this be your joy.

When you make a mistake, refrain from judging yourself. Resist labeling yourself as a failure or a bad person because of past errors. You wouldn’t label your child a failure or a loser because he failed a test. Be compassionate with yourself too.

Accept Your Mistakes and Move On

When you review your mistakes, you may feel remorse and disappointment, but these are healthy reactions. They’ll help you to change your behavior to something you like better.

Remorse and disappointment are different from self-condemnation, which can lead to depression, guilt and shame. These unhealthy emotions may cause you to give up or avoid facing your mistakes. Instead, look toward what you can do to change your actions next time.

Try these strategies to increase your self-acceptance:

1. Avoid excusing yourself from your mistakes. It’s okay to tell yourself that you’re human and prone to error, but if you use this to refuse to face your mistakes, you won’t grow. Instead, work on improving yourself. This will help you accept what you did but put it in the past and move on.

2. Use positive self-talk. Refrain from calling yourself names like “idiot,” “total failure” or “loser.” Get in the habit of complimenting yourself instead. Reinforce the qualities about you that you like by telling yourself things like “I can do this,” “I’m good at this,” “Forgiving others is perfectly like me,” or “I can find a solution to this challenge.”

3. Be tolerant and compassionate with yourself, just as you are with your friends. Judge your behavior, not yourself.

Following these guidelines will help you gain greater self-acceptance. It may take some practice to master these new ways of thinking about yourself, but the rewards will be worth it. Soon you’ll be enjoying life more and find it more fulfilling than you ever imagined!

❤

Thank you for reading. Love you for that!

—–Have Hope.Keep Faith—–

Copyright. All rights reserved. ©

Follow & Support Eclipsed Words on these social platforms. It’s a great way of showing your love and support.

It only takes one click!

INSTAGRAM

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Any Inquiries/Say Hello – eclipsedwords@gmail.com

ECLIPSEDWORDS BY AISHWARYA SHAH || AUGUST’2018 || ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©

52 thoughts on “Developing Self-Acceptance”

  2. Very true indeed. Self accepting who we are and understanding why we are who we are is key to unlocking everything that comes with who we are.
    Thanks for sharing this piece.

    Reply

    1. Your comment made my day.
      I’m glad I could help and little.
      Thank you for reading.
      Keep smiling 😊 ✨

      Reply

  8. Beautiufl drawing! I think self-esteem and self-acceptance is something we have to be consistant at working on as we’re continuously growing and chaning a individuals. Awesome post! 🙂

    Reply

    1. Yes, absolutely. You’re right. We’re always in a state of growth. We learn and grow every single day.
      Thank you for reading ❤ ✨
      Glad you enjoyed reading it.
      Keep smiling 😊 ✨

      Reply

  12. Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl!!!!! I’m a Mechanical Eng too, wooo! Sorry I’m just so excited hahaha Love your art and your writing, is there anything you cannot do? Anyways so glad you enjoyed my post and glad I now have found yours. Namaste my dear ❤

    Reply

    1. Omg!!! I’m excited to know as well.
      It just doesn’t seem believable lol
      So glad you came across my blog.
      Thank you so much ❤❤❤❤

      Reply

  23. Thank you for your visit to my blog as well as your “like” on my post. Your artwork is lush and gorgeous, and this post was one I needed to see. Thank you for that as well. Have a fabulous day!

    Reply

  24. Beautiful!!! I’m currently writing a book on self-talk (affirmations) and your post has really motivated me even more to get it done. Thanks and keep up the awesome writing.

    Reply

    1. I am honored! 🙏❤
      Thank you so much for this kind gesture. Also, thank you for your compliment. I try my best to deliver authentic content and help others as much as possible.

      Reply

Leave a Reply