Accept Yourself Exactly as You Are

Look for the good in yourself. You cannot find light by analysing the darkness. 

A burden that many of us carry is an inability to accept ourselves. Unhappy with the way we look, or we the way we have behaved in the past, or our current life situation, we tend to seek change in lots of different areas. But, with great irony, it is the refusal to accept ourselves as we are, which causes discontentment. 

Acceptance Comes from Within

Acceptance cannot be found on the outside world; we could spend our entire lives seeking change and improvement with the goal of gaining acceptance but we won’t find it. It is only when we take our focus off the outside world, and look within, that we realise we already have everything we need. 

If we choose to believe that what we do defines us, or how much money we have defines us, or our reputation makes us who we are, what happens when we lose those things? We lose ourselves. (Or so we have been programmed to believe.)

Many people strive for business success, or social status, or even relationship status, with the idea that once they get there, they will be happy. The truth is that anything on the exterior world may provide momentary satisfaction but true contentment comes from within. Nothing on the outside can define us and if we allow ourselves to be led by anything other than our inner wisdom, once our circumstances change, so do we.

Life really isn’t about seeing how far we can go. It’s about being at ease with who we already are on the inside, and feeling happy because of it. Remember, we each came into the world with nothing and we each leave with nothing, no matter how much we accumulate along the way, so be humble and never compromise on your inner peace over anything on the outside world. 

Self-Improvement Happens When You Accept Yourself 

Having a desire to improve is perfectly fine but should cause no disturbance to our lives. In fact, when we accept ourselves as we are right now in the present moment, we will find that our lives naturally improve. 

For clarification, self-improvement and self-criticism are two very different kettles of fish; self-improvement should feel uplifting, rewarding and highly positive. Whereas self-criticism happens when we tear ourselves down and are dissatisfied with who we are right now. 

When we accept ourselves as we are, we can grow because we are already satisfied with what we have, which makes room for more. But when we are stuck in a mindset of non-acceptance, we are very limited in how we move forward. Put simply, we have to feel satisfied with what we currently have in order to receive more. 

In addition, we cannot move forward when we cling to who we used to be; holding onto the past is neither helpful nor loving to ourselves. You can find out how to live in the present moment by clicking here. 

Change Your Beliefs

Ultimately, non-acceptance comes from old thought patterns, which become engrained in our beliefs. The most effective way to reverse the way we feel about ourselves is to change our beliefs, and affirmations are a great place to start. 

You already use affirmations every day; they are the thoughts you think and the words you speak, when referring to yourself. Using positive affirmations each day will help to change your self beliefs. 

You can download Soul Analyse’s free eBook, which offers 28 self-love affirmations to be used throughout the course of a month, which is a good amount of time to start seeing results. If you say the affirmations each day, you will begin to see changes in the way that you view yourself, leading to self-acceptance. 

Be free of the need to gain approval, stop believing you have to be a certain way, stop believing you have to live up to expectations, and stop sabotaging yourself. Simply look within and there you will find everything that you could possibly need. 

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