Self-acceptance can be thought of as something that is easily defined. Self-acceptance means we, as individuals, accept all of who we are. This means not only the good aspects but also the negative, such as our mistakes and our shortcomings. Self-acceptance is important because it gives us the confidence and trust we need to believe in ourselves and aids in our abilities to withstand hardships. Self-acceptance means acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses while understanding that both can coexist and play an important role in who we are as individuals.
Something easily defined, however, can be hard to achieve. Many of us struggle with self-acceptance because we may dwell on our mistakes, compare ourselves to others, or think negatively about the situations we’re in. Something that may help many of us achieve self-acceptance involves Mindfulness.
Mindfulness entails being aware of our environment or situation we’re in, meaning we’re engaged and present. Remaining aware and attentive to our body’s physical state of being as well as our emotional state is also important.
Mindfulness objectives that can help us improve our self-acceptance:
1. the ability to view both objects and situations from multiple perspectives
2. the ability to shift perspectives depending upon context
So, what does this mean and how is it useful for self-acceptance? In order for us to accept ourselves, we have to stop putting so much emphasis on our shortcomings or mistakes. When we mess up, instead of panicking or dwelling on it, we can shift our perspective. We can acknowledge that we have made an error, we got something wrong, but instead let’s try to remain calm and think, “what can I do to fix this?” or “can this be fixed?” If it is something that is out of our control, let’s take that into consideration too and maybe think “I messed up this time, but now I know what to do the next time.” Shifting of perspective and viewing the situation as separate from who you are as a person are both ways in practicing mindfulness in our everyday lives.
In addition to shifting perspectives, paying attention to our emotions and how our body reacts to certain situations matters. So, let’s think our ourselves as a “work in process” instead of focusing only on the negatives. Being aware of all our qualities, both the positive and negatives, and being genuine in how we present ourselves, can aid in our self-acceptance too. We can acknowledge and always learn from our experiences, and this can help us practice mindfulness every day and hopefully lead to self-acceptance.
—Liliana Campos