Scars and All

Do you accept yourself just as you are? I’m sad to say that during the course of my life I’ve probably been able to say yes to this question 1% of the time.  Ouch! This is slowly changing as I’ve come to realize that not accepting myself and my circumstance is blocking my ability to be the person I was meant to become.  What a cruel joke it is to try your hardest, do your best, and then look yourself in the mirror and say, “Not good enough, you are SO not what I wanted.”

In a society that prides itself on achievement, success, the illusion of physical perfection and action, we forget to be okay with things just as they are. We forget to give thanks to our bodies that work so hard every day for us and instead constantly berate our body for the imperfection that makes us less than ideal in our minds.

Not only does this lack of self-acceptance undermine any spiritual beliefs we may claim to have, it prevents us from becoming self-actualized.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about self-actualized people:

• They embrace reality and facts rather than denying truth.
• They are spontaneous.
• They are “focused on problems outside themselves.”
• They “can accept their own human nature in the stoic style, with all its shortcomings, “are similarly acceptant of others, and generally lack prejudice.”

Sounds to me like someone who accepts who they are!

So next time you look in the mirror give yourself a real smile.