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Accepting Yourself

January 4, 2008

 "The key to self-acceptance is to love yourself unconditionally.  It is easy to love our strengths and bask in our successes.  Even Narcissus could do that.  To love ourselves unconditionally, we have to learn to accept ourselves as we are, with all our warts and our flaws, rather than wish we were different.

 Loving yourself unconditionally requires self-compassion.  Once armed with a high level of self-awareness and self-acceptance, it is much easier to regulate yourself and your feelings.  Your anger and emotional outbursts usually result when someone penetrates to the core of what you do not like about yourself or still cannot accept.  By accepting yourself just as you are, you are no longer vulnerable to these hurts and are prepared to interact authentically with others who come into your life - your family, friends, coworkers, even complete strangers.  Free of having to pretend to be someone your are not, you can focus on your passions and fulfilling your dreams (George & Sims, 2007, p. 82-83)."

 Reference:  George, B., & Sims, P. (2007).  True north: discover your authentic leadership.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

 True North is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page http://164.107.48.88/winnebago/index.asp?lib

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Created: 2008-02-26, Updated: 2009-01-08