Be Who You Are - Accepting Ourselves

When my daughter was about 8 months old I remember putting a scrapbook page together for her baby book, I wrote the words “Just be YOU”. I remember as a wrote these word wishing that she would grow-up to be happy with who she is, to just be herself, whoever she would become. As I wrote these words for her, deep down it was also a wish for myself. How can I? I don’t know who I am!

Some of us may have felt confused when people encouraged us to be ourselves. How could we know ourselves, or be who we are, when, for years, many of us submerged ourselves in the needs of others? For me, the "Who am I?" question would not go away. I kept finding it popping up around me, I felt something was "missing." It is interesting though, the question itself suggests you are already who you will ever be. You just need to find a way or ways to let who you really are, who has always been, shine through.

Self-discovery is a life-long journey and commitment to oneself. It is an inner healing process of getting to know who you truly are and not who you've been told you are, or the label put on yourself, like mother, daughter, sister.

How different would life be if rather than asking "who am I", we contemplated how we'd like to engage life? What brings me joy, a sense of fulfillment and energy to my life? What brings purpose and mean to my days?

We’re discovering more about ourselves daily. We’re learning we’re deserving of love. We’re learning to accept ourselves, as we are in this moment. Accepting our feelings, thoughts, flaws, wants, needs, and desires.

To be who we are means we accept our past—our history—exactly as is.

To be ourselves means we are entitled to our opinions and beliefs, in the present moment and subject to change if we choose. We accept our weaknesses and our strengths. To be who we are means we accept our physical selves, as well as our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves, for now.

Being who we are, loving and accepting ourselves, is how we enable growth and change. Sitting without judgment of ourselves.

Rather than a fixed vision of ones future, we should embrace a changing sense of self, where we are constantly changing and growing, re-thinking and re-considering ourselves.

Each person's journey will be different and unique because we all have different life lessons to learn and different issues to heal within us.

Each of us move at our own individual pace, in our own way. There is no one method that works for everybody. We are all different; and approach life in our own unique way. There is no rush. I may be a slow traveler, but that is the rate that is right for me. So far I've found that there are no neat little boxes to tick, no one right way, no rules and no absolutes.

Here are three simple steps to help you start on the road of self-discovery:

1. Identify what you love - What people, things or activities have inspired deep love in you?

2. Discover what brings you joy - What makes you laugh, smile or feel giddy. What people, things or activities have inspired a feeling of pleasure in you?

3. Incorporate love and joy into your daily life — Now experiencing those things as often as possible. This will help connect you to your authentic self.

4. Make yourself a promise - I will be who I am. If I’m not yet certain who I am, I will encourage myself that I have a right to that exciting discovery.

How do you want to engage life?

#whoamI #acceptance #selflove