Self Acceptance Exercise
- Looking in the mirror can reveal your level of self acceptance.
- Accepting something gives you the power to change it.
- Plastic surgery is not a replacement for self acceptance.
If you have not already done so, please read the following articles before reading this article.
The Importance Of Self Acceptance
Self Acceptance And The Subconscious
Now that you understand the importance of self acceptance, and some of the factors that affect it, the next step is to make an honest assessment of your current level of self acceptance.
To do this, you must first stand in front of a mirror completely naked, so that you can see your face and your body.
The aim here is to look at the very core of you as a person, and see what feelings arise as you look at your body. These feelings may be about your body, or they may be about you as a person. Be open and receptive to whatever comes.
When doing this exercise do not focus on your makeup, jewelry or anything else that is not you. Ideally you should be completely naked with nothing on at all, not even makeup.
This is important because anything else that is not you is a mask that hides or alters the real you, and therefore will interfere with the process.
Confronting Pain And Discomfort
To begin the process look at your body. Notice if this is difficult, or makes you feel uncomfortable. If you are like most people, you will probably like some parts of your body more than others. This is ok.
You may find some parts of yourself difficult to look at, because they make you feel uncomfortable. If this occurs, then this may indicate a pain you do not wish to confront. Something you may have been denying, repressing or evading the reality of.
Perhaps you are too fat? Or too thin? Perhaps you see signs of aging and cannot bare to stay connected with the emotions these things cause in you?
Whatever discomfort you experience the natural impulse will be to escape, to shift your awareness, reject, deny or disown these aspects of yourself.
Accept Your Imperfections      Â
However difficult you find this exercise, stay focused on the image you see in the mirror. Now say to yourself “whatever my imperfections are, I completely and without reservation accept myself“. Another shorter phrase you can use is “I accept myself for the way I am“.
The exact phrasing doesn’t matter, so use a phrase you are comfortable with, although it should have a similar meaning.
Remember, the purpose of this exercise is to accept yourself fully for the person you are. And as you already know from reading the previous articles, this involves accepting the true reality of a situation, regardless of whether you like it or dislike it.
Accept Your Entire Body
Say the self acceptance phrase to yourself over and over again, whilst looking at various parts of your body. Start with your toes, and finish with your head. Saying to each body part that you accept it for the way it is.
End the exercise by looking directly into your eyes and holding the gaze. Tell yourself that you completely accept yourself for the way you are (many people may find this the most difficult part of the exercise).
Allow yourself to fully experience the meaning of your words, so say them with emotion. A good time to do this is in the morning after a shower, before you leave the house.
What is most important when doing this exercise, is to give yourself time to experience any emotions looking at a body part may cause in you.
Some parts of your body will make you feel good, bad or nothing at all. So do not rush the process, and be willing to fully experience what it is you are experiencing.
What Is Your Overall Level Of Self Acceptance?
If you find yourself quickly skipping over a certain body part, or that you lack meaning/emotion in your words of acceptance, pay particular attention to the areas that occurs.
The ease of which you are able to accept your body, and say words of acceptance with meaning and emotion, will indicate your overall level of self acceptance.
So if you are unable to complete this exercise because you think it is silly, or too hard, then your level of self acceptance is most likely very low.Â
How Can I Accept What I Do Not Like?
Whilst doing this exercise you may find yourself protesting that you don’t like certain things about your body, and so you question how you can accept them completely?
This is extremely common, and even people who you would consider to have “perfect” bodies, such as models, have areas of their body they do not like (often these people are the most insecure, as their self validation usually solely comes from their looks).
If this happens to you remember that self acceptance does not necessarily mean liking, or that you cannot imagine change or wish for improvements.
Without acceptance you are likely to ignore or disown certain parts of your body, and so will do nothing about it. But accepting something gives you the power to become conscious and affect a meaningful change into your life.
So even though you may not like a certain body part you can still say “that’s me and I accept it”. Then be motivated to change it, if that’s what you want and it is possible to do so. This is a recognition and respect for reality, without which, reality cannot be changed.
Self Acceptance And Self Esteem
Doing this exercise will help you to understand the relationship between self acceptance and self esteem. As ultimately this relationship is a mind that loves itself and its body.
Self esteem will suffer if you are in a rejecting relationship with your body. You can’t truly love yourself, if you despise what you see in the mirror.
So practice this exercise, and do it several times until you are completely comfortable with, and love, what you see in the mirror.
You will know when you have reached a high level of self acceptance as you will start to care less about what people think of you, and feel good (accepting) about yourself.
The time it takes for you to be completely comfortable looking at yourself in the mirror, especially your eyes, will depend on your current overall level of self acceptance.
However, once you do become comfortable doing this exercise you will start to feel much better about yourself, and as a result your self esteem will also improve.
I am not saying this will be easy. Some people may find this exercise extremely difficult, and give up after one attempt.Â
But if you persist, and accept the reality of your current situation, only then will you be able to affect a meaningful change into your life.
Should you choose to hide or disown the pain you experience from this exercise, ultimately your self esteem will not improve and your reality will remain unchanged.
But please remember one thing. Nobody is perfect, and everyone has parts of their body they do not like, or wish to change.
Nobody Is Perfect
If you fall into the trap of seeking perfection, you will never find it. This is commonly found with plastic surgery patients, whereby after one operation the person wants something else “improved”, and then something else.
Before long they often end up looking worse than they did before they started having any surgery. Michael Jackson is a good example of this.
Michael Jackson’s lack of self acceptance for his body, ultimately lead him to seek perfection through surgery. However many would argue that today he looks far worse than he did before he had any surgery.
So remember, no one can be perfect, and our imperfections make us who we are. If you seek perfection and lack self acceptance, ultimately you will end up far worse than you are now.
This is not to say you should not have any plastic surgery if that’s what you want. But if you use surgery as a replacement for self acceptance, you will find it simply does not work.
del.icio.us Digg Netscape StumbleUpon Technorati
Email This