Accepting Yourself

To label yourself good or bad is to think too small.

There is no such thing as a good person or a bad person. There are choices and

actions that lead us in different directions, and it is through those choices and

actions that we create our realities. Sometimes we choose or do something that

takes us in the opposite direction of the reality we want to create for ourselves.

When we do this, we feel bad -- uneasy, unhappy, unsure. We might go so far as

to label ourselves "bad"; when a situation like this arises. Instead of labeling

ourselves, though, we could simply acknowledge that we made a choice that

lead us down a particular path, and then let it go, forgiving ourselves and

preparing for our next opportunity to choose, and act, in ways that support our

best intentions. 

Many of us experienced childhoods in which the words good and bad were used

as weapons to control us -- you were good if you did what you were told and bad

if you didn't. This kind of discipline undermines a person's ability to find their own

moral center and to trust and be guided by their own inner self. If you were raised

this way, you may find yourself feeling shockwaves of badness when you do

something you were taught was wrong, even if now you don't agree that it's bad.

Conversely, you may feel good when you do what you learned was right. Notice

how this puts you in something of a straitjacket. An important part of our spiritual

unfolding requires that we grow beyond what we learned and take responsibility

for our own liberation in our own terms. 

You are a human being with every right to be here, learning and exploring. To

label yourself good or bad is to think too small. What you are is a decision-maker

and every moment provides you the opportunity to move in the direction of your

higher self or in the direction of stagnation or degradation. In the end, only you

know the difference. If you find yourself going into self-judgment, try to stop

yourself as soon as you can and come back to center. Know that you are not

good or bad, you are simply you.