“Accept and Love Yourself As You Are” by Joan Y. Edwards
There are many times in life when you might not be feeling confident. You might be like the man in this picture: Full of self-doubt.
Focus on now. Forgive yourself and others for the past…moments, seconds, years. Here is my Youtube Forgiveness Tunnel Video https://youtu.be/leavetIG4wYbtkOo/
Why do certain things pop back up in your memory? Perhaps it is unresolved in your mind. Perhaps it is time to go through the forgiveness tunnel…forgiving yourself and others from the past…will help you get rid of ways that no longer serve you.
When I was little, I must have pouted a bunch. In pictures, I see that I pouted. It didn’t do me much good. I still didn’t get my way. It must have been my think”Ing position. Now I would say it was my feeling sorry for myself look.
Today, I set the timer and say, “I’m going to allow myself to feel sorry for poor little me for however many minutes, hours, or days. However long I think it’ll take for me to get a new look at the situation. I allowed myself to have a pity party.
One time after I told a priest about my pity party, the priest told me an awesome thing to do. He said, “Invite Jesus to your party.
“Oh my goodness!” I got so excited. I said, “If Jesus is coming, I will set the table with a tablecloth and put the plates, glasses, napkins, and it will be so much fun. He will listen to me and help me feel better about what is going through my mind.
So I’m telling you. Invite God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to visit you right now. Have a cup of coffee with him or a glass of water. Talk to him. Tell him the whole story. Then be quiet. Listen. God will send you the answer. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know”
F ree up Your Mind. Be kind to yourself.
O wnership of responsibility”
C oncern and love
U se friendly words
S ensible
O ngoing honesty.
N ever give up energy
N ecessary
O bedient to God’s words
W ise
You are amazing.
You are enough.
You have enough.
You do enough.
You are capable of many things.
You will figure it out. It will all work out.
You look at failure as an opportunity to discover, to learn and grow.
You take the essential steps that lead you to success.
You give to the world what no one else can give.
Every day has blessings and gifts for you.
Look for them.
Be thankful for every little thing you have.
No, you may not have as much as someone else.
The grass may seem greener on the other side of the street. However, you have as much green as you need. For God said he would give you an abundance of all you need every day.
Here are a few Bible Scriptures to empower you.
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Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
- Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
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Psalm 139:13-14 For you cr.eated my inmost being;
you knit me together. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
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Ephesians 2:10 For you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do.
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Zephaniah 3:17 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
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Thank you for being here with me. Please leave a comment. Share an experience. I would love to hear from you.
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2009-2026 Joan Y. Edwards
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Guess what, Joan. Buddhism and Confucianism have the exact same message.
I have some frustrating cognitive problems to work on since my stroke, so your message is very timely.
Thank you.
Dear Bob,
I hope the words in this post empower you and help you recover from your stroke. Thanks for saying my suggestions line up with Buddhism and Confucianism. How cool is that!!!
Do something fun for you!
It’s healing!
Never Give Up
Joan
What great advice. I was like her when I was growing up. I pouted all the time. Thank you for all the Bible verses to read.
Dear Emma,
Thank you for writing. It is cool that both of us did a good bit of pouting when we were kids. Look how well you turned out.
You are welcome for the Bible Verses. I hope they help empower you!!!
Never Give Up
With love
Joan
Love the advice Thanks Joan
Dear Luca,
Thank you for writing! It is good to hear from you. I am glad you think I gave good advice!
Enjoy being you.
You are awesome!
Never Give Up
Joan
I experienced a time in my life when I couldn’t forgive myself for something! I asked the Lord to help me and He did! Sometimes, we just need to ask for His help! What a great lesson!
Dear Linda,
Thank you for writing! I am glad that when you asked God to help you forgive yourself, he showed you how!!!
That is so awesome!!! God is sooo good.
Never Give Up
Joan
It is comforting to know that we can be honest with God about our joys and our struggles. What a beautiful image of a savior who sits at the table with us and invites us to share our lives ❤️
Dear Sara,
Thank you for writing. I am glad that the image of a savior who sits at the table with us and invites us to share our lives is comforting to you. I am so glad that we met at the Erma Bombefk workshop. May God help you realize how happy he is that he made you.
Never Give Up
Do something Fun for you today!
Joan
i remember pouting. i mean like last week – oh, and as a kid, too.
I guess we learn about the range of reactions people have as we grow. we get better at it as adults. yet while some kids take a swat on the backside and move on – others take longer to feel okay about themselves.
i think most still take a taste of self pity now and again.
ever get frustrated? frustration is two parts anger and one part self pity.
nowadays, if feeling angry, i remind myself in many cases it’s about frustration. may even be an unrelated issue. but once i ask myself what’s frustrating me, anger subsides. it turns that emotion into a subject for the mind to work on – what has me feeling frustrated? nice way to detach from negative, potentially explosive emotional displays. Those aren’t helpful, and a clever adversary may deliberately try to push my buttons so i show anger and lose the debate.
Full on anger is justifiable in some cases – like if i catch the neighbor stealing my newspaper from the mailbox, AGAIN.
But you wrote about the inner self, where anger must be tempered and not tethered to emotion.
Thanks for your insightful blog – it got me thinking.
Dear Bill,
Thank you for writing and sharing the thoughts that went through your mind about anger. It was insightful how you broke anger into parts so we could handle it better…anger is part self-pity, part frustration. Tony Robbin’s said in one of his early talks about success. If you can tone the words you are using about your anger, it may lessen the intensity of that emotion.
Instead of I am very angry, I am a little ticked-off. When we can get it into words our brains can work on and deal with, it certainly helps bring peace to the situation. Thanks again for sharing your ideas.
Never Give Up
Do something fun for you
Joan