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Self Approval: Clearing The Path For Success

You cannot and will not be happy, successful, and at peace unless you take a good honest look at yourself first. You must take stock of all of the negatives so that you can get to work on your life. Below are 4 ways in which to start:

1. Get to know what other people like about you. Ask someone close to you to tell you honestly how he or she views you. Have that person rate you and your specific traits on a scale of one to five. Do people describe you as your own worst enemy? If they do, you need to work on your self-knowledge to understand why.

2. Determine what you expect to achieve in life. This is what you expect, not what you hope or dream for.

3. Consider your life for a moment. What drives you? What inhibits you?

4. Evaluate how you handle compliments. This is a good barometer of how you feel about yourself because if you accept them naturally without seeking them out you have strong self-approval and a sense of worthiness. Can you accept compliments without discomfort, or do you always have to take exception or deflect them? Do you crave compliments to the point that you will do anything to get them?

Once you begin to know and understand yourself more completely, then you must accept and love yourself. Self-approval is crucial to changing your life and pursuing your dreams and goals. Self-hatred, guilt, and long-standing anger block your growth. Practice self-love and forgiveness and they will carry over into your relationships, your work and the world around you.

By loving yourself, you open up the possibility for others to love you, too. Work to remove the psychological blinders that restrict your own growth. Understand yourself and your motives and the influences in your life and open yourself up. Direct your energy away from self-destruction or self-loathing. Forgive yourself. Forgive those who have hurt you. Give yourself self-approval and permission to move on.

Right now, write down all your bad habits and faults and all the mistakes you have made in your life. Did you hurt someone? Did you malign someone? Did you waste an opportunity? Have you written down everything that has nagged and eaten at you over the years? Good. Now take that piece of paper, tear it to shreds and throw it away. Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on. The way to your dreams is now clear!