How to Find Self-Acceptance
Sunday evening. We chose what looked like a light-hearted, fun movie: Rocketman, the life of Elton John. I avoided the popcorn (a great personal success!) preparing myself to recognize, and even sing, his dozens of famous songs and see his glamorous life.
It is not just a movie about music and hard work. It is a movie about addiction, about pain and about self-doubt.
You have heard me talking, writing, and publishing again and again about self-love. You can be the most successful, famous, rich person in the world (like Elton John), but it won’t buy you self-acceptance and love.
How do you find self-love and self-acceptance?
This is how you don’t – “keeping old resentments about things that do not even matter” (quote from Elton John). It will kill you. Slowly.
How much of our lives we sit in anger, resentment and worry? We give it the mighty power over our relationship, work, and body. We let life pass by because we believe that until the other person changes, we cannot even begin to move on happily. So we numb the pain — some with alcohol and drugs, or shopping, sex or other substance. But then, we can be addicted to other people and to find ourselves in disappointing relationships, one after the other, because we believe we do not deserve better.
Resentment is a poison. It is like meditating in anger. He did that to me. She told me that. We rewind the words the actions, over and over again. We starch the same wound deep and deeper, not forgiving the other person, not forgiving ourselves. It is the need to cover the hole which makes us feel so angry, so limited, so unclear.
The last scene in Rocketman made me sob. It is all about self-love and forgiveness and since I don’t want to spoil it (although you probably know how the movie ends since it is based on his story), go watch it yourself. Go watch it and think about the accumulating resentments in your life. This is the real sobrierty from any addction, person, thing or places. Forgive those people, so you can move on with your life, and create space for you to live a pain-free life. Who is the person who you truly need to let go? You don’t need to forget, but you can forgive. For you. To live a better freer life of serenity.
