Underneath the questions we ask of ourselves about ourselves is a request for permission.
A permission to be who we are, with all we are and all we aren’t; with all we’ve ever been and haven’t; with all we’ll ever be.
A permission to feel shame without shaming. To feel blame without blaming ourselves for it. To feel that there’s something wrong with us without making ourselves wrong for it.
Profound acceptance of oneself includes the lack of acceptance. It includes the unacceptable and the unaccepting. The rejected and the rejecting. The shamed, the shameful, and the shamer. The hated and the hater.
Profound acceptance doesn’t require the absence of anything. It’s the holding of everything, just as it is.