7 Ways to Accept Yourself for Who You Are

7 Ways To Accept Yourself For Who You AreAccepting yourself and your situation in life can be a difficult task. Do you tend to be more accepting of others’ mistakes than your own? If so, you’re being too hard on yourself!

Those people aren’t better than you! You were created with a unique set of talents that no one else has. Plus, everyone makes mistakes. We’re only human!

Becoming more accepting of yourself and loving yourself for the fine person that you really are can lead you to greater happiness and a more fulfilling life.


Here are some excellent techniques you can use to help you better accept yourself:


1. Focus on your positive qualities. Even though self-improvement is a good thing, it’s important that you identify and focus on your positive qualities, rather than concentrating on the qualities you feel negatively about.

  • Maintaining this positive focus will not only help you better accept yourself, but it’ll also make it easier for you to attain your goals by utilizing your talents to boost yourself forward.


2. Consciously prevent negative thinking patterns. Negative thinking can really snowball fast if you don’t get ahead of it. It’s okay to be in a bad mood every once in awhile and have some negative thoughts; it happens to everyone. The trick is in learning how to push those negative thoughts aside and replace them with something positive.

  • Replace your negative thoughts about yourself with affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements that affirm your positive qualities and help bring out the best in you. You can find affirmations in bookstores and on websites, or you can write your own. You can also download some positive affirmations and self-reflections on my site:
    - I Am The Body In Motion That Stays in Motion
    - Giving To Others Makes Me Rich
  • If you believe in yourself, you can do it. It’s really that simple.


3. Accept your imperfections. Another part of being human is having some imperfections. Instead of dwelling on the things you can’t change, accept them for what they are. Making the best of your life starts with accepting your imperfections.


4. Use positive self-talk. Positive self-talk can help you achieve great things and change the way you think about yourself. Make it a point to give sincere compliments to yourself.

  • Compliment yourself for the good things about your looks, your positive qualities, and every time you do something right. Do this each and every day until it becomes a habit.
  • Recommended reading: “What To Say When You Talk To Yourself” by Shad Helmstetter:
    What To Say When You Talk To Yourself


5. Disregard what other people might think about your decisions. You’ll never make everyone else happy. If you try, you’ll soon discover that, not only will other people still be unhappy, but you’ll also be exhausted and unhappy yourself.

  • Make your own decisions according to your priorities and be confident that you’ve done what is right for you.


6. Avoid worrying. Worrying will never help your situation. Rather than wasting your time by being engulfed in fear, take action to do what you can to make the situation better. If there’s nothing you can do to change it, focus on moving forward in other ways.


7. Try your best and accept that you’ve done what you could. Do your best every day and be proud of yourself for your efforts. Let go of any negative thoughts, such as being angry with yourself for not being able to accomplish an impossible feat.

  • Even when you haven’t done your best, find a way to forgive yourself. Move on and commit to trying harder next time.


In changing the way you think about yourself, you’ll also change the way you see the world. Every day opens up new opportunities for you, and by utilizing positive thinking, you can make a real difference!


Your friend, Tara

Related posts:

  1. Reprogramming Your Brain To Conquer Any Goal
  2. Learning to Forgive Yourself
  3. 14 Simple Ways to Add Happiness to Your Day
  4. What If?
  5. We’re all dying… what are you doing about it?

Comments

3 Responses to “7 Ways to Accept Yourself for Who You Are”
  1. Excellent post, Tara! I agree that unconditional self-acceptance is a crucially important condition for success, health, and generalized well-being.

    During my 35-year career as a psychotherapist, I became a bit notorious for endlessly responding to my clients’ litany of self-criticism and “failures,” with the simple words, “of course.” I then offered them the equally simple argument that, given all of the vast complex of previous causes and conditions in their lives and the outside world, there was absolutely no way for them to be different than how they were or to have behaved in some other way than they did.

    As I see it, we fall into the grievous error of self- (and other) “blame” out of basic ignorance. That is, we do not recognize the basic fact that we are all none other than “Great Nature” unfolding in a very natural, lawful way. To believe that any of us can be different from how we are at this point in time is tantamount to believing that ANY part of nature should or can be different from how it is.

    Unconditional acceptance, then, whether of oneself or others, is a form of basic wisdom and sanity. An incredible amount of needless suffering is generated through the expectations and demands of our “little minds” that we be different than we are.

    One of my favorite aphorisms, which I strongly encouraged my clients to adopt, is: “As I accept myself, I change.

    With best wishes,
    George

    • Tara says:

      Hi George,
      Thanks for posting your detailed thoughts :) Loved what you had to say…. and yes, by embracing and loving ourselves for who we are, it brings untold happiness. Have an awesome day :)
      ~ Tara

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