Everyday Inspiration: Self Acceptance vs. Self Improvement

Are you ready to claim your crown?

I believe it is our mission to make a personal commitment towards knowing who we are. To become authentically and unapologetically YOU.

We live in a time where this personal commitment to yourself directly influences every one and every thing that comes into our experience.

In my own personal journey, I have found that the path of self improvement is not the answer. It is the path of self-acceptance that offers the greatest gifts for unlimited clarity, happiness, and contentment.

The self improvement bandwagon is a never-ending hamster wheel that keeps our eyes off the prize. It prevents us from looking at who we are NOW and puts our focus on the illusion of what we may become at some future date. Like when we have this car or loose this weight or get this job, we will be acceptable. Also, once something is attained, it quickly wears off getting constantly replaced by the next object. self improvement is always focused on what is NOT THERE. The lack. Consequently, by design it breeds perpetual unhappiness.

We easily become addicted to self improvement, constantly looking for the things outside of us that will eventually make us who we are supposed to be. That new mantra, book, new friend, better job, more money, better behaved kids will definitely be the next fix that will prove our worth to ourselves and others.

I am here to tell you that everything you have been searching for is already inside you right now. You are Magnificent. You are exactly what the world has been waiting for.

Most of us remember the story of Dorothy in The Wizard of the Oz. Dorothy travels down the yellow brick road, searching desperately to find the Wizard that will tell her how to get back home. She looks outside of herself to the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man for the wisdom, heart and courage she feels she needs to survive the journey. When she finally meets the Wizard, she realizes he is a fake, that she has been giving all her power away to this illusionary stranger. Just like we do when we look to that new job or new dress as a means of becoming acceptable. We are only distracting ourselves from looking inward and accepting exactly WHO WE ARE right now.

The solution exists within.

So, what happens to Dorothy in the end? At her desperation point, Glinda the Good Witch appears and tells her that she has the power inside of herself and that she’s had it all along.

“But why didn’t you tell me?” implores Dorothy. “Because you wouldn’t have believed me. You had to learn it for yourself,” replied Glinda.

There is no need to reach outside of ourselves and believe that any person, place, or thing can make us more acceptable or more YOU.

Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

Remember that perfection is an illusion. You need to own WHO YOU ARE and radiate this self-acceptance into the world. That’s where the real magic happens. Its not about Doing, its about Being.

You will then become this magnet that attracts what you need from this world and what the world needs from you. That is the greatest gift you can offer and can only happen when you stop looking outside of yourself and go back home to the magnificence within.

Claim Your crown.

Are You Ready?

As you take each step I will be there reminding you of your Magnificence, and I will continue to do so, until you are able to see it in yourself.

Do you know of a local Cincinnatian who inspires you and the people around them? Nominate him or her by emailing me at jennifer.annenberg@icloud.com with a short description of 100 words or less. They could be the next Everyday Inspiration to be featured in this column.

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