Practicing Self Acceptance

Self-love can feel like a lofty goal, especially when we aren't sure where to begin. Years ago, someone told me that the foundation of self-love is self-acceptance. The more I sat with that idea, the more it made sense. If we can't accept ourselves as we are right now, how can we truly love ourselves?

The same is true for our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, and the lives we're living. Acceptance doesn't mean giving up or settling. It means meeting ourselves where we are with honesty, curiosity, and understanding.

In this meditation, we'll practice self-acceptance as a pathway to deeper self-love. Together, we'll create space to meet ourselves exactly as we are right here, right now.

Transcript

A little while ago I was working with my coach and we were talking about how to love yourself better and how to practice self-love. And I think this is kind of like a lofty idea, Like how do you give yourself love? And one of the things that she said was that love is born of self-acceptance, Or self-love is born of self-acceptance. And I really think that we often try to skip over things like this. We want to love ourselves without accepting ourselves. I was really overweight, And I had been overweight for a while. And I was really struggling because I felt like I was doing everything I could to get rid of the weight, Like exercise, Diet stuff, All that stuff. And none of it was working. And I realized after a little while that I was kind of approaching weight loss from like a not enough place. So I was saying, Basically saying to my body, Every time I exercise, Every time I tried a new diet, You're not good enough. I'm going to try to change you. And I did that for, Years where I was just saying to my body through all the things that I was supposed to be doing to love it, You're not enough. I don't know what exactly shifted, But I started to practice instead of not enough, Telling my body that it was okay as it was in that moment. And, You know, Looking at my body and loving on my body. I've been practicing that now for years, Two years now. And after I started practicing it, I began to choose different kinds of healing that then helped me lose a lot of weight. Instead of coming at it at my weight loss from a place of not enough I started coming at my weight loss from a place of acceptance and love and things shifted and I think that it's such a subtle shift to go from not enough to acceptance and then to self-love and But it's something that we can practice and today's meditation is going to be around that theme, Around practicing self-acceptance and seeing if through the self-acceptance we can give ourselves a little extra love. So we're going to get started and Yeah, Just begin to find yourself in a comfortable position. You could be seated, Standing, Laying down. And we're going to begin with just a little bit of intuitive movement. I always just like to take a moment to stretch before we come into stillness. So maybe you just take a big full body stretch or. If there's a certain area of your body that feels tight this morning, Maybe you just sort of Move a little bit. Take some deep breaths as you take your movement. And if you're feeling like it's gonna be really hard to sit still this morning, Just take a moment to like shake it off, Shake it out, Move your body fast and slow. Kind of shake that feeling off, Get a little bit of that energy out. And then as it starts to feel natural and good to you, You can start to slow down your movement. And just find some stillness. And maybe you want to close your eyes or just take a soft gaze. Begin to notice. The rhythm of your breath. So following the inhale. And then exhale. And notice your natural rhythm, How you're breathing right now. And I always find that when we're talking about acceptance, Breath is such a great place to start. It's nice to just see what's here. To see how we're breathing and to just accept. That this is our breath. This is how we've been breathing. So just notice if your breath is fast or slow. Maybe it's a bit sleepy, You just woke up. Or maybe there's a bit more energy behind the breath. Notice if it moves smoothly in and out. And notice if it gets stuck anywhere. Maybe in the nose or the throat. Chest or belly. How easy is it for you to breathe all the way down into your belly? And then in the next few rounds of breath, Can you Just gently start to deepen the inhales and the exhales. And maybe just take a moment to decide how you're going to do that. Maybe you want to use a breathing technique that you love. Maybe inhaling for a count of four, Exhaling for a count of four. Maybe you want to take some longer inhales and shorter exhales to really settle your energy, Settle your body. Maybe you want to take some longer exhales through your mouth and just really let some of that stuff go. Anything that's coming up for you. Part of accepting ourselves is trusting that our bodies know what's right in any given moment. Trusting your body to breathe in a way that's right for you. As we just gently deepen the breath. Take a few more deep breaths. And start to find a rhythm. A natural, Effortless rhythm with your breath. Something that you can maintain without much effort as we go a little bit deeper. Into our body. And explore. Acceptance and self-love. Healing naturally. As you begin to notice your body. Notice how you're sitting or standing or laying down. And get a sense of the overall energy of your body this morning. Any sensations that are present. Are you tired or ready to go on with your day? Does your body feel strong? Are we? Is there anywhere that. . . Feels tight or tense. Anywhere that you're holding. Maybe in your jaw. Or in your neck and your shoulders. Maybe you're clenching your hands or your feet or curling. Maybe you're holding your belly in. Maybe it's a habit to hold. Your belly in. And in the name of acceptance, We're just going to notice all these things with curiosity. And if they change when you bring your attention to them, That's great. But maybe instead of. . . Immediately trying to soften the hard places. Immediately trying to change any holding or clenching. You just start to notice it. Where do you hold tension? And then after you've noticed and after you've Kind of sat with that for a moment. Then maybe you. Invite the breath in to those tight places. Maybe you intentionally soften your jaw. Drop your shoulders away from your ears. Open the hands so that the palms face up. Release any holding in your belly and let your belly be big and soft. Let it move freely with your breath. Let your breath melt any tension in your legs. And in your toes and in your feet. And yeah, Maybe your body doesn't feel 100% today. Maybe you're tired or sore. Maybe there's a lot of uncomfortable emotions moving through you. You're frustrated. Doubtful, Angry, Anxious, Whatever. Just noticing any of that. And trying to instead of change anything, Just be with it. Be with your body. Be with your breath. Be with your emotions and your thoughts. Truly one of. The simplest practices, But also one of the most difficult things we can do. Accepting who we are, How we are. How our life is, What we have. Where we live, Who we're with. In any given moment. And yet it's through accepting. And then loving these things. That we create the true conditions for change. It's how we open ourselves up. The moment, Opportunities, The potential. Accepting who we are right now. And all of our. Glory with all of our challenges and all of our problems. I once had someone ask me if. . . I would rather have. My life exactly as it is with all of its problems, Challenges. Debts, Struggles. Or someone else's. And take on their problems and challenges and struggles and their partner and their family. And there was no choice for me. I would so much rather live my own life. Even with all the messiness that that entails. And that realization led me to accept. Just a little bit more. Myself. My role in all of that. And so as you continue to breathe, That nice natural effortless breath. And as we come to the end of our meditation today, I want you to reflect on an area of your life where Maybe you've been pushing. Really hard. Where you feel like you're not enough. Maybe it's at work or at home. Maybe it's in finances or in your own healing. Just take a moment. To see all of the work that you've put in. All the resistance you've overcome, All the struggles you've met. The strength that brought you here. And see if maybe you can accept that. This is exactly where you need to be. This moment, This struggle. This part of your life. There's nowhere else you should be. Nowhere else you could be. And maybe just offer yourself a little bit of love. All the work that you've put in to get here. Maybe you just. Say that love in your mind, I love you for being here, For doing those things. Or maybe you want to make the love physical and place your hands over your heart. Or give yourself a nice hug. Maybe you tell your body you love it. Your breath, You love it. Your life. And then in your own time and in your own way. Just gently begin to wake your body up. Maybe moving a little bit in your fingers and your toes. Maybe taking a full body stretch, Coming out the way you came in with some movement. Notice where you are in your space in relation to a wall. To a window. Into the ground below you. And then whenever you're ready, You can just gently open your eyes. I hope you feel a little bit more connected and in tune with what is present in your life right now. And I hope you can bring a little bit of love to yourself and to the people in your life as you move forward. Throughout your day. Thank you so much for being here. Hopefully we can practice with each other again soon. Bye for now.