Accept Yourself - Flaws And All

Is your expectation of yourself too high? Is your self-worth based on what others think of you?
Do you keep comparing yourself to others? Well, for most of us, accepting ourselves isn’t as easy as it should be. So, if you’re not accepting yourself, then you’re just not going to feel good enough or comfortable in who you are. So, come on, let this practice invite you to embrace the quirks and imperfections that make you unique. And get ready to accept your flaws, failures and faults. Accept yourself and you put yourself in a better position to make the best of you, fix your flaws, improve your life and keep your relationships healthy. Rose Goodenough has been a teacher and practitioner of Raja Yoga meditation for over 35 years and co-ordinates the activities of the Brahma Kumaris at InnerSpace Meditation Centre in Glasgow. She shares from her heart with honesty and a depth of wisdom gained from her practical experience of using the power of meditation in her life.

Transcript

To accept ourselves flaws and all.

Is your expectation of yourself too high?

And is your self worth based on what others think of you?

And do you keep comparing yourself to others?

So for most of us accepting ourselves isn't as easy as it should be.

So if you're not accepting yourself then you're just not going to feel good enough or comfortable in who you are.

So come on,

Embrace the quirks and imperfections that make you unique.

And so get ready to accept your flaws,

Failures and faults.

Accept yourself and you then put yourself in a better position to make the best of yourself.

To fix your flaws,

Improve your life and keep your relationships healthy.

Sounds very easy but we have to look at the practical pattern of living for every human being.

So we all fall into this category although we're all unique and different.

We all have a life and Raja Yoga teaches us we're the energy in the centre of the forehead.

We're like a living seed because everything that I ever am and ever will be is contained on that living seed of life energy.

The seed always knows what it's going to grow into.

It has everything in it to grow into whatever it is going to be.

And the seed usually starts off in a still place where it begins to germinate and grow.

And that still place is almost like the womb or a place of silence and stillness.

It hasn't grown yet.

It's just pulling all its energies together to produce shoots and grow.

So I was thinking that for everyone we can all identify with the fact that we have lived our life.

Some of us have come further along the journey than others.

And it's in our life's journey that we use our energy and we go through whatever is there for us.

We actually have very little option but to go through.

Even if some people choose to opt out in some way or other but they still have to go through it at some point because we believe in rebirth.

So you never get away from whatever's for you.

So if you take your journey of life it's as if we've moved through time.

We have moved through time,

Haven't we?

From those first memories.

Some of us can remember further back than others.

I can remember when I was really,

Really,

Really tiny,

Really young.

I don't know how many people can.

Some people say,

Oh,

I could never remember that.

I can remember really clearly,

Very early.

So from these days we were full of energy.

Most of our energy,

All of our energy was at that time.

We were full of,

We were growing,

We were experiencing,

We were learning.

As we came through that journey we travelled through time,

Different experiences,

Different feelings,

Growth.

I was growing,

Developing,

Thinking,

Going through obstacles,

Learning.

But also I was using my energy.

So if in my memory track I can look back and see where I was at certain points of time,

How undaunted I was as I travelled through life,

How much strength and power I had or didn't have,

How healthy I was,

Everything.

We can all remember all of that if we actually choose to look.

So as we get further along our journey,

This is where it's good to look and take stock of what I've done,

How I feel and what time is it in the world.

And when you look out into the world,

The world will have changed dramatically from when we started our journey.

And if I look sincerely at myself,

My energy will have changed dramatically from when I was on my beginning of my journey as I moved through the different stages of life.

I will have changed.

I will have gathered lots of understanding.

All these things in their own way would be useful to me at that point.

So if we look,

We're talking about seeing flaws and things in ourselves,

When I look back I can say with deep regret,

All of us,

If only I had known,

If only I have had,

If only I could have had what I have now,

Or if only if I'd had the wisdom then,

Or if only if this,

Or if only if that.

So we would fill ourselves with quite a sadness about a lot of things.

But I learned quite early on through looking at meditation that that's not the way.

Because wherever we are or wherever we were at any point of our journey,

We were surrounded with that time scale,

That energy in the self,

The connections that were around me at that time,

And I would have made the best decisions possible under the circumstances.

It's easy to say afterwards,

Oh,

If I'd had this money to do that now,

I would have done it different.

But we didn't do it different because it wasn't to be that we did it different.

So if I start to look in a practical way at my life,

I will stop that way of thinking in myself very quickly,

Which is what meditation is all about,

Looking inside,

Seeing what's been going on,

And understanding.

I couldn't have done it differently.

I did it according to what was needed and what I had to do something with.

The material I had with me,

The thoughts I had,

The wealth I had,

The friends I had,

The capabilities I had,

The strength of the body that I had,

The health that I had,

That was at that time.

It's foolish to say I should have done it differently because I couldn't do it differently because what I have now I didn't have then.

And the way I thought then,

I don't think like that now.

So I changed in the journey.

Circumstances changed in the journey.

So many of the flaws or imperfections that I may start to wish weren't there or think if only I could or if only I did,

And life if I'd gone that way instead of that way,

Life would have turned out different,

But I didn't go that way instead of that way.

So it's futile.

So Raja Yoga teaches me to say,

Where am I now?

Where am I now on my journey?

I've come a long way.

Even the young people here have come a long way.

The world has changed dramatically.

The facilities we have,

The way we interact,

Vastly different,

Vastly different to what it would have been at the start of the journey.

The health of the body will have changed.

The age of the body will definitely have changed.

The energy,

I will have used up a lot of my energy.

I think that we refuse to look at that.

We look at the fact that it's modern day and I can do everything for you now,

The medicines.

That's not true.

Open our eyes and look out and see.

I can do wonders,

But we're not always in the place to have the wonders performed.

And also I think that we each have our own individual time scale.

And sometimes it wouldn't matter how much money you had and how much healthy food you were eating and how much you did exercise and how many big friends you had around you.

If it was your time,

It's your time.

And so it's where am I now?

What do I understand from that journey?

Has that journey been so useful to me that I now can look and see what's happened to me now at this point of time?

Am I more generous?

Am I more compassionate?

Am I more understanding?

Do I value myself more or do I think I've become less?

Do I think because I haven't got or I wish I had that I'm less?

So these are the things if we start doing meditation,

We look inside.

And if I,

As each of us,

Don't look in and see the remarkable energy that's in there,

If I don't see that and appreciate it over and over,

Seeing tick all the different boxes and realize who this is,

If I can't do that,

No one else is going to do it for me.

I'll get a little bit of praise here and there,

But everyone's on their journey.

And most people are so caught up going through that journey that we have manners,

We have respect,

We have people that we're very close to,

But it takes all our energy to just simply keep going along that track.

If I want to see the flaws in myself,

I should have a jolly good look and see what I consider to be flaws and defects.

But I should also have a jolly good look at the different strengths that I had on my journey and how I developed various ways of understanding relating to others and keeping the self safe and how I'd made many decisions,

Many of which I may have thought,

If only.

But if I really look inside,

Take away,

If only,

Because it wasn't possible.

I didn't.

I did according to time,

According to circumstances,

According to energy,

According to people around me.

I did what I felt was the right thing to do,

Even if it appears wrong later on.

So when I start really looking inside now at this time,

This is where I get respect for myself.

And this is where I gain strength,

Inner strength,

Appreciation of the self,

But also a huge appreciation of other people.

Even if they're walking with their wounds and their faults and their flaws and being disrespectful and not liking me and fighting with me and shouting at me,

That's where they're at on this journey.

And they're very wounded.

So by our behaviour we can see the wounds.

And others can see my wounds if I go about really trying to hide my flaws and being,

Disliking my flaws and hating the decisions I made.

And it will be very obvious.

And I will be like wounded also.

When I come to Raj Yoga,

I learn to take a deep breath and a new look at what is life.

And for each of us,

Life is the self,

Because I have to get the self right,

Because it's the self that made that journey to here.

And whoever we meet on the path,

Depending on how much strength and self-respect I had,

That's how much I would have formed relationships and felt I had success.

If I look at myself in today's light,

In today's world,

And just look at how I feel,

How comfortable I feel,

How concerned do I feel,

How upset do I feel,

How unwell do I feel,

Then I can start to look in here and start to appreciate the journey,

What's needed now,

The encouragement I need to give myself now,

The support I need to give myself,

The understanding I need to give myself.

And when I start to do this,

I can understand this journey of life and how the present,

The now,

Is the time to really have a look inside and give myself as much strength and support as I can possibly bring about.

Because in the whole world,

At this point in time,

It's the time of transformation.

Transformation in a way that has never been at any other time on earth.

It's the transformation of the spirit.

It is the coming together in brotherhood.

It appears to be far away from that.

But actually it's not so far away.

There are people all over the world dedicating their lives,

Supporting groups of people,

Giving the best to themselves over and over,

Bringing people together,

More and more people coming together with a different energy.

And the other things are happening,

But then that's the other things.

When we look at energy,

We see there's this very negative force and there's this other,

Lighter energy.

And many people choose to buy into the lighter energy.

And those that want to stay in the darker energy,

That's up to them.

But then when you start to really look at yourself and look at what's happening and understand the power of the soul,

Staying in that feeling of lightness is like a protection.

You're separate from the darker energy.

You're not working with that.

So it's there and you're here.

And it's a time of transformation where more and more and more people are moving into the light.

Aum Chanti.

Silence heals.

In the next few moments,

Let me sit in a relaxed position.

Let me breathe deeply.

Let me become free from other thoughts.

And begin to understand what it is that I want to be healed of.

Whatever medicine I may need,

Let me understand that it is within me.

If I feel bitterness and resentment because of the past,

Because of what people have said or done,

And I don't want to carry this resentment anymore,

It has become a burden.

It has interfered with my happiness.

Then let me use the medicine of forgiveness.

Let me forgive myself.

Let me forgive others of the past.

Let me learn from the past,

But also let me forget the past.

Three words.

Learn,

Forgive and forget.

Let me be generous towards myself and towards others.

And gradually,

As I see the value of forgiveness,

I become lighter.

The disease of anger and irritation.

How often do I become angry with others or even with myself?

Why do I have this anger,

This irritation,

This lack of patience?

Because someone doesn't fulfill my expectations.

They are not doing this.

They should be doing that.

I must let go.

And in the place of anger and irritation,

Let me use patience and acceptance.

When I am patient,

Then there will be cooperation from others.

When there is acceptance of difference,

Then there will be harmony in relationships.

Let me keep putting this thought in my mind,

But today let me practice patience and acceptance.

To heal hopelessness and loneliness.

Life is often full of disappointments and it is difficult to trust life again.

But the great medicine of faith and optimism allow me to go beyond these barriers.

Faith in myself,

Faith in life,

Will bring a positivity of vision and optimism.

When I am optimistic,

I make difficult things easy.

I make big things small and therefore manageable.

Faith comes when I love myself.

Faith doesn't mean that I analyze and have to understand every detail.

Faith means that there is an inner knowing.

I know that if I try for the best for the positive,

It will work.

It may take its time,

But it will work.

I become lonely when I lose communication with myself and with others.

When I have the fear to trust and involve myself again.

Loneliness brings isolation.

Loneliness makes me concentrate on what's wrong with life.

Loneliness makes me live too much in my own world.

And to overcome loneliness,

Let me use the medicine of tolerance.

Let me use the medicine of openness.

It's like a bud.

When it opens to the sunlight,

A very beautiful flower is revealed.

In the same way,

With trust,

As I open myself to life,

As I have the courage to try again even if there have been disappointments,

This courage to try will enable me to communicate with freshness with newness.

And gradually understand I am not alone.

I belong to myself and I belong to the human family.

And with this sense of belonging,

There is inner security and renewed faith.

Healing begins not only with using these medicines,

But also with using determined and positive thoughts.

I am positive.

I am peaceful.

I am a forgiving person.

I am a patient person.

Let me repeat these thoughts to myself,

Believing them and using them.

Thank you.

Reviews

Simply lovely 🥰🙏🏼

I am so grateful. I am so grateful . so unbelievably grateful for this meditation it gave me such an amazing insight. I feel like it truly has freed me from my shame. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope to share this meditation with all I love and I hope it finds them as it has found me. Truly amazed.

Really moved deeply into the meditation. Thank you!

Everyone could probably benefit from this talk & meditation. Starts out sort of slow but picks up momentum really quick. :)

Thanks

Thank you 🙏 so very much 💖
Your meditation is a lovely boost 😃 and heart warming. Very helpful 💖

How was that? It was fantastic! Def listening to it again.

Thank you, Rose, for this healing balm. It was much needed this morning.

Absolutely excellent...thank you so much for beautiful talk meditation...just what I needed right now.

all blessings John 🙏

A peaceful meditation! Thank you for sharing so much light! 🙏🏻 Namastê

Such truthful and inspiring words. Thank you

Sooo lovely. I felt like I was a small child, sitting cross legged in front of a comfy armchair gazing up to wear she sat, knitting and sharing her beautiful insights and wisdom. Such a comforting and gentle talk. Much needed. And the meditation that followed was so honest and so wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you so much 🙏
I really need to cultivate acceptance and this talk truly helped me

Wonderful wisdom from the BKs with a great little guided meditation at the end. Thank you. Om Shanti. 🙏❤️

Really insightful thanks. I’ll listen again

Beautiful. Thank you so much 💗

Thank you so much! I’ve gotten off track somewhere along the way...this was very helpful. 🙏🤗

Loved it all , especially the switch at the end!
Positive & enlightening
🙏🏾Thank You
Namaste ✨🌻

Thanks I really needed to hear you messages. Yes it is futile beating myself up with regrets why I wasn't different in the past as I could only be how I was at that time. We are all on our own journeys. Thanks for your wise words. Bookmarked. 🕊🤗

As always, essential.