September 10      

Today's quotation:

Accept everything about yourself.  I mean everything.  You are you, and that is the beginning and the end; no apologies, no regrets.


Clark Montanas

Today's Meditation:

There are many people who would take these words and warp them, arguing that this type of thought is selfish and unrealistic, a type of hedonism.  But these are perhaps the wisest words that we can consider, for within them lies the secret of starting to live our lives as fully as we can:  understanding and accepting ourselves exactly was we are, for in this particular moment it serves no purpose at all to reject anything about ourselves.

This doesn't mean that we can't change any aspect of ourselves with which we're dissatisfied.  As a matter of fact, this idea is the only way that we'll ever change anything about ourselves-- we cannot change anything about ourselves that we haven't first faced and accepted.  Do I want to be more generous?  Well, then, first I must accept the fact that I'm not as generous as I'd like to be.  Then I can work on it.  An alcoholic cannot deal with the alcoholism until he or she first admits and accepts alcoholism as a part of who he or she is.

We've come to be as we are because of our reactions to many, many different stimuli.  And some elements of ourselves are genetic.  Either way, once we recognize the fact that we've always done the best that we can in all our situations, we can be more forgiving and lose the need to feel apologetic about whom we've become.  Getting down on ourselves for our shortcomings does nothing to help us deal with them effectively.

We have thoughts that we don't like; accept them and be done with it.  We act sometimes in ways that we don't like; accept that and try to change it.  Life goes on, and our lives become much richer once we allow ourselves to make our mistakes and get on with our lives.  We are beautiful and wonderful and complicated creatures; let's not waste time not accepting ourselves just as we are.

Questions to consider:

Why does it become difficult to accept many aspects of ourselves?

What does acceptance mean to you?  Does it necessarily include approval?

What would you see as a first step towards acceptance of self?

For further thought:

Acceptance is observation of life and suspension of judgment about whether what is happening is good or bad, right or wrong.

Ron Smotherman

more thoughts and ideas on acceptance

  

  

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