Self-acceptance is a key component to overcoming self-criticism and depression. Self-acceptance requires you to be kind to yourself, despite the way you are. It is the ultimate goal of self-love. Self-acceptance can be achieved through mindfulness meditation and counting your blessings.
Self-compassion
Self-compassion is a powerful concept for improving your relationships with others and yourself. There are many ways to practice self-compassion. You can use a self-compassion scale or write about your imperfections. These practices can lead to a greater sense of mindfulness and reduce negative self-talk.
Mindfulness meditation
Acceptance is one of the most helpful attitudes to bring into your mindfulness meditation practice. It means acknowledging your experience without judgment or blame. This is a powerful skill to have, as most of us avoid feeling pain in some way. We either ignore it or distract ourselves by doing something we don't like. Some of us even turn to recreational drugs or alcohol to cope with our pain.
Counting positives
Counting positives is a good exercise to engage in when you are trying to develop a sense of self-acceptance. The activity can help you recognize positive aspects of yourself and others.
Practicing gratitude
One of the best ways to cultivate gratitude is to slow down and take notice of the little things around you. Focusing on these little details will ground you and pull you away from worrying and rumination.
Practicing self-acceptance
Practicing self-acceptance for WHAT AND WHO you are means thinking about yourself as a whole person, and not just the parts of yourself you like or dislike. Many people's lists of flaws are much longer than their lists of strengths, and it's important to learn to appreciate your imperfections. Self-acceptance is a process of restructuring your self-view and changing negative thoughts about yourself into positive ones.