July 2016 Magazine | Page 78

• When in a disagreement, can I respect my own view while respecting the other person’s? Complete these statements about yourself. • One thing I have a difficult time accepting about my life, but deep down know is true, is: • Some of the things I feel I need to accept about my life are: • The reason I know these things are difficult to accept is: • I will know that I have fully accepted these things about my life when: • This stops me from accepting these things about my life: • I would accept these things about my life if only: • I am afraid that if I accept these things about my life, then: • Do I know that no matter what I discover about myself that I’m truly good? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you’re not alone. Self-acceptance is a continual pursuit that’s just as much about your relationship to yourself as it is about your relationship to others. If you want to work on building your ability to accept yourself, you can start with these exercises that come from my book Real Answers. Ask Powerful Questions The following prompts help you shed some light on the areas of yourself and your life that would benefit from some selfacceptance. • What I need to do to accept these things about my life is: Speak Your Truth One of the ways we move into a deeper level of acceptance is by speaking our truth about our lives. This reinforces our sense of our experiences and makes them more real for us. When we acknowledge what’s real for us, we’re better able to accept what might have been difficult in our past as well as in our present. For example, after a fight I once had with a friend, I created a self-serving story that my friend was unfair and overreacted. This story, however, was really a set of judgments that kept me from accepting my friend’s 78 | Eydis Magazine