Self-acceptance is the practice of fully embracing ourselves—our strengths, our weaknesses, and everything in between—without judgment. It’s recognizing that emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety or even laziness aren’t inherently “bad”; they’re just a part of being human.
In fact those feelings we call “negative” are essential. Without them we couldn’t experience the “positive” ones like happiness, joy, peace or excitement. While certain feelings may be problematic in our relationship with ourselves or others, they aren’t inherently wrong—they just need to be understood, not judged.
When we judge ourselves for feeling those “negative” feelings, we create a cycle of self-judgment, an internal destructive loop that keeps us stuck. Imagine what would happen if we changed the internal dialogue. By acknowledging our feelings with understanding we can start to respond rather than react—both to ourselves and to others.
Together with my clients, we often explore where self-criticism shows up in life and why. We discover the beliefs that have them thinking that some feelings are unacceptable, and we learn how to respond (not react) to them differently, ultimately breaking the destructive loop and replacing it with a constructive process that creates personal growth, that stays.
Self-acceptance doesn’t mean ignoring things or fixating on things you’d like to change about yourself—it means working on them with curiosity, not judgment. Understanding yourself changes everything.
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