Accepting Yourself

This will be my first post in a series, where each Monday I will post about a point of reflection or insight that I will use to reflect and meditate on during the week. In order to make it a bit more focused and interesting, I will attempt to do this with topics beginning with letters from A to Z. I have often found that having a specific topic to reflect and/or meditate on during the week really lends itself to interesting insights and growth, because you not only have several days to reflect and meditate on the topic, but you have several days to put any lessons and insights that you discover to work in your every day life. For those that follow me on Twitter (@JasonLivingNow) I will try to write updates as the weekly topics come up during meditations, or just during every day life. To view the current and previous entries in this series, please visit the: Reflections and Insights A Through Z section.

My son’s recent Valentine’s Day pics. (c) Shelby Hurst Photography 2012

A= Acceptance: I think that beginning with acceptance is fitting because accepting yourself for who you are is really the beginning point of anyone’s journey towards personal and/or spiritual growth. Accepting yourself is key, because it sets the foundation that will allow you to truly build and refine yourself. If you haven’t reached a level of acceptance with who you truly are, then your foundation will be unstable, and it cannot support any true growth.

Acceptance of one’s life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices. – Paul Tournier

As evidence by the above quote, acceptance doesn’t mean giving up on one’s spiritual path, rather it means coming to terms with one’s past, whether positive or negative, and not dwelling on the negative aspects of life in the future. This allows you to really experience and enjoy life, it allows you to really live in the now. Acceptance of who you are not only builds self-confidence, but it allows you to build positive relationships.

Personally, acceptance has been a huge part of my journey, because it has allowed me to not continually dwell on my past, which cannot be changed, and instead focus on making my present, and even my future, the best that it can be. It has also allowed me stop focusing on external influences for esteem and happiness, and instead it has allowed me to be accept who I am. This has allowed me to become not only a more confident person, but a happier person as well.

I am who I am, and I am happy with that 🙂

Practical Tip: Throughout the week, if you begin to think about a negative thing that someone did to you in the past, try to accept that it is in your past, and release it. If you begin to think of something negative that you personally did, accept it and release it, and resolve not to do something similar in the future.

I would love to see comments on what acceptance means to you, how you have used acceptance, or if you wish to use the topic of acceptance as a point of reflection during the week I would love for you to share any insights that come up.

Please come back next week for the next installment of this series, and as always if you enjoyed what you read, please share on social network sites, subscribe to this site, and share this site with others!

Also please check out my book, “The Path: Using the Religions of the World as a Guide to Personal and Spiritual Development.” (Click on the book cover to view on Amazon.com)