Self Acceptance

It is very important for me to remember, for myself or when working with others, to work first toward becoming aware of what and who we are, rather than who or what we want to be/become. For myself, that requires a great deal of awareness, coupled with acceptance.  For example, I am disable, sixty four, have a speech impediment, am in very good physical shape considering all of that, have spiritual gifts far beyond what I thought possible and think I have a fabulous life.  If I can accept and have a level of peace with all of that and I can then make changes to the parts I do not like.  I need to accept, and even love (not necessarily like!) what is real and then work within it, otherwise my attempts at making changes are doomed to failure.
When working with or just talking to others, if I can keep my own ego out of the way, employ deep listening, use my intuition and have a good connection with them, then I might help them come to some level of awareness and acceptance of themselves.  They then have the potential to make changes.  Enabling a person’s addiction is a good example of what not to do.  Enabling is allowing a person to continue with their addiction, rather than becoming aware of what they are doing and changing.  Natural consequences help a person become aware.
Each of us have different preferences, due to soul age, differing experiences, genetics or a variety of other things.  It is hard to accept the things that we don’t like about ourselves. The self is a good place to begin, if one wishes to be at peace.