Self Acceptance

"Acceptance breaks the vicious cycle of struggle and frees you to invest your time and energy in life enhancing activities."

~Russ Harris

What is self acceptance and how can it help us? Something to ponder and work on so that we can be better to ourselves, and love ourselves more. First perhaps we should allow ourselves to freely accept ourselves without judgement or fear of being criticized by others. Strive to be free and have the courage to break the activity of struggling within, stop listening to that nasty little inner critic and begin to accept ourselves for who we are, without critically judging and have the power to recognize our thoughts as pleasant or unpleasant and in turn start living a life free of our inner demons and invest our time doing the things we need to do and in turn this process can nurture our very souls.

How does one begin the thought process of accepting one's self? What can we possibly do when we are feeling like our thoughts are swirling and whirling and over taking us and saying mean things and the chatter just won't shut off? Ever feel like you are stuck in your own head and this movie of insulant chatter just won't shut off? Hello, where is the power switch? What can we possibly do to slow these thoughts down and feel better about ourselves? Mindful practice can help us. Starting a mindful practice can quite literally teach us to slow down, look around, be in the moment. It can teach us to recognize ourselves, observe our surroundings utilizing our five senses and most importantly accept our thoughts as thoughts. Recognize them, feel them, accept them as merely thoughts. Our egos and inner critics can say many things to us that are untrue. So how do we stop this from occurring so that we can feel better about ourselves? Practice, practice, practice and guess what? Yes you got it more practice.

Think about some of your favorite activities. Write about them. Perhaps first make a list. That is a start. Then think about What you could do to incorporate some of these activities in order to enhance your life. It could be simple things, mindful things, easy things that just make life a little bit sunnier. Consider a Mindful Practice. When you are doing these enhancing activities, slow down, look around, stay focused and present, breathe deeply and recognize your thoughts. Accept them for what they are and refocus on the moment and the activity. What does it feel like? What does it look like; etc. You get the idea! Now focus, remember no judgment, take a deep breathe in exhale relax and feel free!

Journal prompts:

How do you enhance your life?

What are your favorite activities?

Recommended Read: I highly recommend, The Happiness Trap By Russ Harris, for teens and adults alike. I purchased mine from Amazon. I like a hard copy because I truly like to make notes, underline and really use my books! Think of it like a tool and a friend combined into one! The quote that I started my blog with is from this book. It really hit home with me and I am always open to reading and learning strategies to improve my life and the life of my students, family and friends.