Accepting the uniqueness of who you are is vital to living a quality life. When you begin to accept yourself, you begin to tune in to your true essence. You begin to celebrate your strengths and laugh at your weaknesses and, if necessary, contemplate making some positive changes in your life. Upon acceptance of yourself, your inner conversation becomes more loving and supportive, instead of being harsh and judgmental.

Self acceptance leads to valuing and appreciating yourself and others more fully. When you hold yourself in high regard, you are automatically more respected by other people simply because you reflect the fact that you have a healthy respect for yourself. Stress levels decrease as the rigid demands on yourself follow suit and paradoxically, you are able to be more effective in setting and reaching your goals and objectives. Rapport is built in both business and personal relationships effortlessly in the absence of unachievable levels of expectation. Your inner perspective broadens and begins to improve by becoming more positive regardless of external circumstances.

How do we become this positive, happy, confident person? Here are a few simple ways:

1) Monitor your self-talk. This may take a little bit of practice but it is worth every minute of time invested. Develop the habit of setting aside five to ten minutes a day to just journal your thoughts and feelings.  As you become better at doing this, you will see patterns emerge in your thinking. When you review what you write, resist the urge to edit. The goal is to discover some of your unconscious beliefs that  contribute to the low opinions that you may have about yourself and to challenge those beliefs.

2) Do not compare yourself to other people. Comparing yourself to other people diminishes your own uniqueness, thus contributing to the belief that you are not “as good as” other people.

3) Learn to say “No”. This one simple act is very liberating and empowering. When you learn to say “No” your subconscious mind picks up on the fact that your needs are worth attending to and, as a result, you no longer have the voice of low self-esteem saying that you have to be a “people pleaser”.

There is no value in self-degradation but the benefits of self-acceptance are numerous. Gain a healthier mental state by striving to accept the beauty that is unique to you and live life from a positive perspective.