Acceptance, something most of us crave and need to be a functional and somewhat happy individual. A lot of the time we are accepted by our peers but we have a hard time accepting ourselves.  Our brain takes what we think about ourselves and uses it to filter the world around us, so even if someone is loved, appreciated and accepted they may feel the total opposite of that if they have a poor self image and can not accept themselves for who and what they are.

If most people would just spend 1/4 of the time they do on trying to be accepted by others on improving their self image and in accepting themselves then they would be much happier in their lives.  Learning to accept yourself with all your faults and bad habits is not a walk in the park, but it is not a non obtainable goal. The first thing is learning to forgive yourself for the things you did that you consider wrong or mistakes. The baggage of past actions only builds guilt, which guilt has a purpose but it is not meant to be lifelong thing.  Forgive yourself, your only human and you will make mistakes along the way. Learn from them, forgive yourself and move on. Let go of your past, don’t live in the past for it only steals away today. If you have things you do still that bother you then work hard on changing them, but until you change them learn to accept that side of yourself and forgive yourself for not being perfect.

Focus on serving others, to do good for others is a great way to improve your self image and worth. It also teaches you to consider others above yourself at times. Find activities that make you feel better about yourself and get out and socialize, being an island unto yourself is not the best way to live, it only opens you up to being lonely and disconnected from the world we live in.  Just remember no matter what you have done in your life, that you deserve to be happy and live life to its fullest.  Even if it was something horrible, that was then and this is now, learn to be a better person and live a happy and productive life like we all should live.

Blessings and happiness to you all

Raymond Barbier