Quotes About Self-acceptance

Perfection is a self-persecutory myth. I do not have to be perfect to be safe or loved in the present. I am letting go of relationships that require perfection. I have a right to make mistakes. Mistakes do not make me a mistake.

As long as I am not hurting anyone, I refuse to be shamed for normal emotional responses like anger, sadness, fear and depression. I especially refuse to attack myself for how hard it is to completely eliminate the self-hate habit.

Adult children benefit greatly from challenging and overthrowing false, destructive beliefs about forgiveness, blame, and emotionality. Life is inordinately more painful than necessary when we hate, shame, and abandon ourselves for not feeling "good." If we remain trapped in our families' legacy of disdaining all but the most exalted emotions, we may never feel authentically forgiving toward ourselves or anyone else.

Self-mothering is a resolute refusal to indulge in self-hatred and self-abandonment. It proceeds from the realization that self-punishment is counterproductive. It is enhanced by the understanding that patience and self-encouragement are more effective than self-judgment and self-rejection in achieving recovery.

Experiencing one's own inadequacies and still going on in spite of them are two of the greatest achievements of adulthood.

For someone who's been traumatized, that feeling of balance and wholeness is such a surprise, it can cause an "identity crisis." We don't recognize ourselves because we're no longer filled with shame and fear and collapse.

One of my clients, while working through his childhood abuse at the hands of "barrio" gang members, said it this way: "I don't have to justify my experience with memories any more.

Well, maybe I can't draw, but I CAN sign my name

Tucker is on a roll. It usually takes two beers for him to like himself but tonight he only needs half a can.