The process of self-love and acceptance is not something one can achieve in mere days or even months. Learning to become more compassionate, kind and accepting towards yourself is a life-long journey. In the current world, it has become easy to lose self-confidence and feel as if you aren't living up to an expectation for yourself. I used to believe there were necessary steps one had to take in order to feel better about yourself. As if there was a bulleted list that every person who had achieved inner peace had followed previously. But the journey to self-love doesn't have instructions or a clear map. Everyone has to find their own path on the way to self-acceptance. One problem that always stood out to me was, how does any of my self-reflection really change the outcomes of my life? My answer was contained in principle 8, "When you nurture the inside, the outside will flourish" (Kaiser 257). The idea of focusing on myself was new to me. I would always worry about other ideas, leaving me with little time to actually prioritize my needs. Kaiser mentions that when you improve your relationship with yourself, your "outer world" will begin to improve as a result. She also mentions the idea that you attract what you put out into the world (258).
My journey to self-love will differ from everyone who has experienced their own journey. The insight provided by Kaiser has allowed me to see that in order to see a change in my "outer world", that I need to make changes internally first. Using this information I can guide myself to make choices that can make me happier in the long run. Kaiser has allowed me to ask myself powerful questions that help me reach self-love. I like to write down my answers to the thought-provoking questions that Kaiser inquires, I keep them around so I can see how I can work on reaching my goal of achieving genuine acceptance.
Do you agree with Kaiser's idea of needing to be content with your "inner self" before you can be fully content with your "outer world"?
KAISER, SHANNON. SELF-LOVE EXPERIMENT: Fifteen Principles for Becoming More Kind, Compassionate, and... Accepting of Yourself. PENGUIN BOOKS, 2017.
