Self-Acceptance Is A MUST-DO
Though related, Self-Acceptance is NOT the same as Self-Esteem. Whereas Self-Esteem refers to specifically to something valuable or worthwhile we see ourselves. Self-Acceptance alludes to a far more global affirmation of one self. When we are self-accepting, we're able to embrace all facets of ourselves, NOT just the positive parts. As such, Self-Acceptance is unconditional💴💷💵Expectedly, we should be able to recognize our weaknesses, our limitations BUT that awareness in NO way interferes with out ability to fully accept ourselves. Challenge for us is to determine our Self-Acceptance in the first place. In general, similar to Self-Esteem, as children we're able to accept ourselves only to the degree we feel accepted by our parents. Studies have shown that before the age of eight, we lack the ability to formulate a clear sense of self📗📙📘Given how the human psyche operates, it is almost impossible NOT to parent ourselves similar to how we were parented originally. If our caretakers dealt with us in a hurtful manner, as adults we'll find all kinds of ways to perpetuate that unresolved pain onto ourselves. And if we were frequently ignored, berated, blamed or worst, physically punished, we'll somehow continue this Self-Dignity💎💎💎
So, IF and WHEN we 'beat ourselves', we're typically just following our parents' lead. Having to depend so much on them when we were young and thus experiencing little authority to actually question their mixed verdict on us, we felt pretty much obliged to accept their negative appraisals as valid. They constantly put us down BUT historically it is well known that parents are far more likely to let us know when we do something that bothers them than to acknowledge us for our behaviors❎❎❎So, how do we become more Self-Accepting?In the shortest words I can recall from experts, we need to cultivate Self-Compassion, letting go of guilt and learning to forgive ourselves. Accepting ourselves unconditionally would have been almost automatic had our parents conveyed a more predominantly positive message about us BUT if that's NOT the case, we need on our own to 'CERTIFY' ourselves to validate our essential OK-ness. Indeed, Self-Acceptance is a MUST-DO❗❗❗
