Level of Acceptance

"To be beautiful means to be yourself.

You don't need to be accepted by others.

You need to accept yourself."

Thich Nhat Hanh

While observing, we seem to easily find beauty in others, but not in ourselves.  Taking notice of a strangers behavior, we make assumptions about their lives based strictly on the story we tell ourselves.  We imagine their perfect life, always giving them the benefit of the doubt.

With ourselves, however, we are not as generous.  We recall isolated instances of missteps from the past or current troubled relationships.  We might be overwhelmed by not knowing our way into the future or stressed by the lack of connection between our work and inner yearnings.  We are hard on our selves whereas with strangers, we are much more forgiving.

We strive so earnestly to meet a level of acceptance, wearing false hats and made up faces.  We stray farther from our original nature investing in the dreams of others, ignoring our own.  The twist is this:  if we would simply accept ourselves just as we are, others would do the same.