Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up on positive change or resigning yourself to “this is just the way I am.”
When you fully accept everything you find within yourself, even thoughts and feelings you’d rather push into a deep dark closet, you create powerful opportunities for change. Not because you need to be fixed, but because you can finally be whole.
The entire spectrum of your emotions, experiences, and thoughts can be welcomed…by you.
You become like the Guest House in the famous poem by Rumi.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
What could your life be like if you could welcome your whole self home? Inner Relationship Focusing is a good place to begin your journey of self-acceptance.
You might enjoy our on-demand course, Loving the Unlovable. Experience a series of playful and profound processes for encountering the most unlovable parts of yourself and embracing them.