One of most important parts of Personal Mastery is ‘Self Acceptance’. This is much more than usual ‘self esteem’ issues that we hear about, although that’s a part of it.

Self Acceptance is about accepting yourself completely, exactly as you are RIGHT NOW. For most of us this isn’t as easy as it should be. We’ve been taught that we have to achieve certain things or be certain things, and that we shouldn’t feel satisfied with who we are until we’ve done so. In reality we’re NEVER finished as there will hopefully always be more to learn and new ways to grow. So when, exactly, are we supposed to feel good about ourselves?

Popular culture would have you believe that all you need to feel good about yourself is right car, or right clothes, or right beer. In fact many of our culture’s self-esteem problems are intentionally created by media and businesses that advertise there. How often have you seen an ad and thought “I really need to update my style”, or “I really need a new car”? Do you really? Hey, maybe sometimes we do. I have to admit that my habit of wearing sweatpants, t-shirts and sandals wouldn’t go over well when making advertising sales calls for videos or magazine, and I do in fact, really need a good car. As usual question in our society is ‘how much do we really need’? For instance, I don’t need Armani suits to sell advertising for a holistic magazine, and I can get by very well with a reliable older car. The difference here is word ‘need’ versus word ‘want’. We’re taught that we ‘need’ certain things to feel good about ourselves, and that’s key issue. I don’t care if you buy a new Mercedes 3 times a week if that’s what you want to do and you can afford it. However, if you feel like you ‘need’ to buy or do anything in order to feel good about yourself then that’s an issue that needs to be addressed.