Can you honestly say that you ‘accept’ yourself – the good, the parts you hide and even the spiritual part of you?

Well all I can say is that I do sometimes. Yes, I can applaud my courage, my adventurous part, my caring, my honesty, my compassion, my willingness to be and do things differently, my generosity and my inner spirit that keeps me wanting us to be the best that we can be.

The rest of the time, I know I have difficulty with the self-serving, manipulative, spiteful, jealous, frightened, nasty, lazy, narcissistic aspects of me. I can keep these well-hidden, although I know they can leak out at times or even be obvious!!

What I do know (and as many of you know from my many blogs over time) is that I am a strong believer in the Both-And view of life. Yes, I know I can flog it to death!

And, for me, it is about owning all these parts of me. Why? Because in order to really ‘accept’ myself, I need to own all of me! AND I know how tough that is, and I am still a lesson in progress.

Unfortunately, if I am unable to accept all of me, I move away from my integrity towards despair and my view of myself with it! Not a good place to be, I can tell you.

If I deny what I try so hard to hide, I will resent ‘them’ and project onto the outside world that ‘they’ are all I am not owning myself.

It is time for me to accept my flaws and brokenness so that I can accept others with theirs, laugh at myself and then I can truly own my ‘grace with ease’ mantra that flows off my tongue.