Radical self acceptance in a world that is full of judgement

What does it mean to actually accept yourself with love? 

Two months ago, I celebrated my birthday by making a small ceremony for myself, asking to pass through the gateway of radical self acceptance. 

I grew up in a very judgmental culture and internalized the perspective that my worth is measured by my accomplishments, by my earnings…and this point of view about myself has been a huge obstacle for a long time. 

Enough!  

Sounds simple, to embrace radical self acceptance, but the weeks after that birthday were rough, to say the least.  The first few days were all roses and ice cream, feeling great about myself, bla bla bla — and then my own judgments hit me like a huge slap in the face.  As a person who chose a very different path from the one expected from me (when I was in high school I thought I would become a justice of the Supreme Court of the US), I have, over and over, had to face my own repetition of others’ voices and opinions, expressing themselves through intense self criticism. I work hard to recognize which voices are actually mine, and which are regurgitations of things others have said. 

And so I remember — again — that radical self acceptance is a path, not simply a destination. 

Do you resonate with this journey? 

Do you find yourself dancing between the spaces of judgement and acceptance? 

Like me, do you find yourself walking it step by step, trying to notice the moments when you are falling into patterns of judgement again? Perhaps you are, like me, breathing and accepting those patterns as well, with love.