What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. – Burt Bacharach & Hal David (originally sung by Jackie DeShannon)

Yesterday you started practicing quiet moments to think about yourself with acceptance. Total, complete acceptance of who you are, exactly as you are, right now.

What do you think is going to happen to your view of every other person on this planet when you are in total self-acceptance? Yes! Of course, you are going to begin the feelings of that with all others. That’s right, ALL others. By giving yourself unconditional acceptance you will be able to feel that for others, too.

Imagine what it would be like to feel that. It almost seems out of reach because it is so unfamiliar. So what would that feel like? Well, if you feel an internal criticism of, say, the grocery store cashier who is crabby today, or taking too long with the people in front of you in line, you’ll discover that instead of criticism you will feel compassion, or you will feel patience. Take a second right now to flood those feelings through yourself. Notice how bad the criticism feels? How about the compassion? Did you notice how good that feels?

I am really focused on this concept of acceptance because I have a couple of friends who’ve been experiencing the opposite of it recently, and it’s been so challenging emotionally. One friend has a sister who is struggling with being in judgment and blame; his response is to coach her to more positive thinking while at the same time accepting that she is perfect the way she is. Another friend is working to accept that where her daughter is in her recovery from eating disorder is perfect, even though her own mind wants her daughter to be in a more advanced state of recovery. Both of these friends are  very aware that any thought they have around ‘not good enough’ regarding their loved ones is in opposition to unconditional acceptance of them. They are also aware that the journey is their own; an inner journey of giving themselves even more acceptance before they can give it to others.

What my two friends have in common is that they are both lovers. They love the world, they love life, and they wish to continually evolve into people who are really good at loving and accepting every human on this planet, exactly as they are. That’s a pretty cool goal to have!

It’s lucky for them that they both understand that all evolution begins on the inside of themselves. As for me – I’m pretty lucky to have them as friends!