Find Self Acceptance

The meaning of self acceptance is to accept our shortcomings as well as our accomplishments. We all have faults and successful moments in our lives. Getting through life happily and peacefully requires us to understand the balance of positive and negative. We have hard times as well as easy times. We experience ups and downs. Evolve to be a better person than you are today and accept the path you're creating.

Forgiving
Don't be so hard on yourself. Take the opportunities of mistakes as fuel and knowledge towards the successful outcome. A mistake allows you to eliminate one possibility that doesn't work. Great! Now you're closer to your goal!

Aspire
Self acceptance shouldn't be an excuse to avoid growing. On the contrary, you accept the bumps in the road as well as certain aspects of your personality as you're developing towards a better you.

Flexible
The more rigid you are, the less you'll be open to developing and growing as a person. Think of bamboo as it bends across the wind without breaking. If it were rigid and stiff, it would break in two. The flexibility allows it to flow effortlessly through the wind as it stays intact.

Remain Positive
Each situation has more than one side. Actually, it usually has many points of view. A friend of mine has slight stuttering that most people don't detect it including me. During counseling as a young boy, he was taught to tell people of his condition rather than hiding it. That way he's less self conscious when speaking and dealing with people because of a fear he may stutter. His friend is a speech pathologist and helps others with their stuttering. The interesting thing is that his friend has an obvious stutter. His handicap didn't keep him from moving forward in life. He took it to his advantage to help others.

Keep Your Power
Our images of ourselves are created based on what others have told us about ourselves or comparisons we make against others. You'll inevitably come across others who will insult you or attempt to hurt you. Allowing their comments to have an effect on you is giving them power. It takes practice, but it's certainly possibly to shrug off the comments of others without personalizing them.

Instead, compare yourself to yourself. Are you a stronger, wiser, healthier, more loving person today than you were a year ago? Don't compete with anybody else. Their journey in life is much different than yours. Focus on growing and developing yourself. Without having the typical runner's body, I made it a goal of mine to complete the LA Marathon in 2003. I accepted my body structure as it was, and trained none the less to meet my goals.

Personal development is a continuous process so accept yourself along the way.