Self Acceptance in Spring

It's been awhile since I've touched base with my readers and I thought - "What better time to refresh and renew my monthly newsletter than Spring?!" Truth is with the nice weather coming about I've felt happy and alive and it's inspired me to write again.

Just over the past month or so I have realized that I just have to be happy to enjoy life more. Earlier this week I was listening to "The New Psycho Cybernetics" by Dan Kennedy and something he said motivated me to look into "self acceptance." Last night I stumbled across an interesting article on Self Acceptance.

What I got out of it is not to be so hard on yourself. By not punishing yourself for your mistakes you end up enjoying a more happy and fulfilling life. For the past year plus I've had my "nose to the grindstone" in pursuit of success, thinking, "When I achieve this," or "when I get that," I'll be happy. What I failed to realize is that success in any endeavor is achieved because you already are happy not because you mark a milestone.

I even forget how far I have come since I was recovering from a coma, having to learn how to walk, talk, and eat again. I have the whole world in my hands and even I forget this sometimes, beating myself up for not achieving this and not reaching that goal. I realize that happiness isn't everything, but it's very important. Being happy puts you in a better position to be successful and achieve more of your goals in life. I don't know the exact stat but a happy person beats a mean person any day of the week!

I'm a big advocate of self improvement books and tapes so I always thought that "self acceptance" was to be satisfied and not striving to improve. This couldn't be further from the truth. By saying you are practicing self acceptance you are in essence saying, "I'm thrilled to be me, right now!" but you are not saying, "I'm thrilled to be me and I never want to get better!" Self acceptance can be directly related to happiness so once you accept yourself (and any vices that may come with you), you allow yourself to be happier!

I BELIEVE that there is a link between success and happiness but it is my view that you have to be happy with what you have. There's a word for this and it's called gratitude! When you give thanks for what you already have it opens the door to the things that you want?!

Nick Prefontaine
www.Nickprefontaine.com
nick@prefontainesells.com