I love myself! I love myself! I love myself! YOUR TURN. Stop reading, go in front of a mirror, look into your eyes and say, “I love myself, I love myself, I love myself.” Seriously, stop reading and do this exercise. Don’t read the next paragraph because it will rob you of this wonderful life lesson. Ready, set, go. Find a mirror, and say to yourself, “I love myself! I love myself! I love myself!” Do it now.
Okay, survey says: the results of this exercise are based on how you felt when you said it. So how did it feel? Did it make you feel good, sad, uncertain, or silly? Answer that question now. Did it make you feel good, sad, uncertain, or silly?
You just gave yourself the self-acceptance check-up. The way you felt immediately following that exercise is your starting point. If you felt good, great, let’s make you feel even better. If you felt bad, great, now we know we have some work to do. If you felt uncertain or silly, excellent, we have a great deal of room to grow here.
If you have some work to do in this category, and believe me, all of us do, then let’s get started. Let’s focus on self-acceptance. One of the main clutches of unhappiness is to not accept ourselves exactly as we are. Most advertisements help us feel this way. For many of us, we are too fat, too skinny, our hair is too curly, too straight, either too much or not enough of this, that and everything else. When we tell ourselves that we are not good enough, we create the feeling of not being good enough. And that feeling does not work!
It’s time to stop sabotaging our happiness by being in agreement with the loser voice in our heads. We all have two voices, and they go by different names: the angel and the devil, the winner and the weenie, the encourager and the defeater, the “go for it” and the “don’t even think about it.” Which one do you choose most of the time?
The key is to accept yourself exactly as you are. Even if you don’t enjoy a particular trait, accept it! This is who you are right here, right now. This is step one. Love all of yourself, right or wrong, good or bad, love it. This is you, baby. You were made to be a work in progress. That’s one of the purposes in life! If we were perfect, what would be the point? We find ourselves through our growth. We reach new heights by pushing through the resistance. This is what being your best is all about.
Accept yourself right now for who you are, what you have done, how you look, and how you treat others. Through and through, love yourself right now for everything you are and everything you stand for. Can you do that? Elevaaate!!!