6 Ways to Practice Self Acceptance

As humans we are conditioned to focus on the negative, this comes from our primitive self who in the face of saber tooth tigers needed to pay attention to the negative for survival. Unfortunately, that part of our brain is still a controlling factor and often hinders our ability to move forward in life as we do not believe in ourselves. We are quick to focus on the negative parts of ourselves whether real or not which keeps us from stepping out of our comfort zone.

We all want to feel good, and be our best selves. Carl Rogers, a psychologist, who in 1959 wrote ”a successful person is someone who experiences challenges and accepts failure and unhappiness as a part of life. They are open with others and generally have positive feelings about themselves”. “On the other hand, an unsuccessful person avoids challenges and refuses to accept the pain and unhappiness life produces. They are often defensive as a result of negative feelings about themselves, and they can't escape these negative thoughts. Negativity rules their world in a destructive way”.

The more we focus on the negative, the more it becomes our truth. Our thoughts become our reality. So, how do we learn to focus on the positive and accept ourselves for who we are now and start to focus on the positive so we can move forward with what we want for our lives?

Start with these questions, take your time, answer slowly and think about each answer:

• How close is the person you are to the person you want to be?
• Who you are in your life?
• How do you behave around other people in your life?
• What is one defying qualities (makes you who you are)?
• What would your friends say about you?
• What would an acquaintance say about you?
• What would your family say about you?
• Do you like the answers to these questions?

Self acceptance is not fixed overnight, it takes time. Here are X ways you can start to move that dial towards self acceptance.

1. Be Kind to yourself

No one judges you as harshly as you judge yourself. Speak to yourself as you would speak to a friend. Stop yourself when negative self talk comes up.

2. Stay Positive

Turn those negative thoughts around into positive statements about yourself, each and every time you recognize you are speaking harshly about yourself. Write notes to yourself and place them where you will see them. Inspirational positive quotes are a great reminder to yourself. Pick so you love.

3. Accept Imperfection

There is no perfect human, we all have flaws. You do not start at the finish line,life is a process of growing into our best selves. Flaws are a part of us. If it is something you really don’t like, work on changing it. Otherwise accept it is a part of who you are and move forward.

4. Believe in yourself

You are capable of so much, you can do anything you set your mind to. It may take time and practice, but you’ve got this. Believe it! Remember, you've already survived the worst thing you've experienced in your life.

5. Don’t give up!

When you fall, you need to get up and keep going. It's in our failures, not our successes, that we learn the most about ourselves. Thomas Edison said about his attempts to create the lightbulb  "I haven't failed -- I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

6. Try this creative exercise

• Draw an outline of your head on a piece of paper. Leave room around the outside.
• Fill the head with all the positive things about you. Write down everything good about you that you can think of. There is more there than you give yourself credit for.
• Fill the outside of your head with all your negative thoughts about yourself.
• Now paint, or colour over those negative thoughts, leaving only your head full of positive thoughts.
• Draw pictures over top of the paint (or coloring) depicting positive qualities about you.
• You can color and enhance the positive words inside too.
• When you're done this project. Get out your journal and write about how the process felt. Write about all your positive qualities.

I will be adding this project as a video to my YouTube channel on Thursday. You can subscribe here so you don’t miss it.

Remember, you deserve to be happy.

Have an Amazingly Creative Day,

Larissa