The Moment You Accept Yourself, You Become Beautiful -Osho

The moment you accept yourself, you become beautiful. 

-Osho

We live in a culture that thrives on the idea that we cannot accept ourselves as we are - multiple industries flourish on the belief that we need to be thinner or have better hair or nicer clothes to be attractive.  Basically, the idea that we are never good enough in some way runs rampant throughout our society.  This fixation on what we aren't prevents us from tapping into appreciation for everything we are.

For those of us with eating disorders, we often fixate on trying to stay thin because we don't accept ourselves.  We may believe we aren't smart enough or driven enough or funny enough, so we turn to the eating disorder as something that might give us a sense of worth.  Turning to our eating disorders to solve the bigger problem of self-acceptance is misguided; eventually we realize that not only does the eating disorder not help us address our nonacceptance of ourselves, but now we also don't accept our bodies. 

I love how this affirmation is so simple, and yet carries a powerful message.  With these words, Osho tells us that if we feel we are lacking in some area, turning to something in an attempt to make ourselves feel better is a contrived, inauthentic way to heal.  Rather, it is through gentle acceptance of ourselves that we are able to heal, grow, and love ourselves.  And acceptance of one's own unique humanness is beautiful.  I know that when I feel in a space of self-acceptance, I am a much kinder person, and that makes me feel like I'm bringing beauty to the Universe.

We are all unique and deserve to accept ourselves rather than running in circles because of industries that tell us we aren't good enough.  We are.  So, let us bring beauty into the world today by lovingly accepting ourselves and letting our individual lights shine.

We are all beautiful,

Taylor