- Set an intention to self-love rather than to self-loathe.
- Celebrate your strengths. Stop collecting your short-comings and lack of worth, and start collecting your strengths
- Consider the people around you. Are they negative? Do they hurt you? Do they reinforce negative self-talk?
- Create a support system. Distance yourself from those who bring you down. Surround yourself with people who accept and believe in you.
- Forgive yourself. Past regrets prevent us from practicing self-acceptance. It’s important that we learn from our mistakes, make an effort to grow and accept that we can’t change the past. Say to yourself “I made the best decision with information I had at the time”.
- Shush your inner critic. Many believe their inner critic is speaking the truth. Create your own mantra and say something to yourself like: “I am doing my best and that is all I can do”.
- Grieve the loss of unrealised dreams. Many of our issues with self-acceptance come from our inability to reconcile who we are compared to who we dreamed of being. Whatever your dreams or goals, mourn them, then get back to being the best possible you.
- Perform random acts of kindness. It becomes more and more impossible to convince yourself you are no good when you give to others and see the positive influence you have made on their lives.
- Realise that acceptance is not resignation. Acceptance is letting go of the past and the things we can not control. Focus your energy only on the things you can control.
- Speak to your highest self. Ask your higher self or your better self what they would do in this situation? Imagine this higher-self stepping out and looking at the current situation. This process of visualising a separation or a detachment from the current suffering may help you to tap into the wisdom that already lies within. This exercise teaches to be your own best parent or friend and helps you demonstrate empathy, compassion and love towards yourself.
- Be kind to yourself. Love yourself, warts and all. Love yourself because of your flaws, not despites of them (every characteristic has both positive and negative aspects).
Fake it till you make it. At first you must think and do before you know. Practising self-compassionate actions aid towards convincing that you are a worthy person.
