Acknowledgment? Who Needs It?

You probably already know that one of the keys to reaching enlightenment is releasing the ego. So if you're seeking to release your ego why would acknowledgement be important? Shouldn't acknowledgement be the last thing that you need? The short answer is no and here's why. You see, there's a deeper level of acknowledgement that goes beyond the ego's vanity.

Acknowledgement is in fact a basic life need that should be imprinted early in your formative years for healthy human development. But the irony is that if you're like most people you've been conditioned into minimizing your accomplishments and deflecting compliments and praise.

Take a moment and consider whether these exchanges feel familiar to you:

"That's a beautiful dress." "Oh, this old thing? I just pulled it out of my closet."

"You're really good at xyz" "Oh, no. So and so is much better. I'm just a novice."

"Wow. Thank you so much. You really helped me out of a jam."

"Oh, it was nothing. Anybody would have done the same."

"Mmm, this is delicious." "Oh, it's too dry. I shouldn't have baked it for so long."

Yes, people do this all the time. And in fact, responses like these are considered polite. But there's a price you pay for this lack of acknowledgement that runs deeper than mere social niceties. If you have a pattern of not accepting compliments and praise from others, chances are you also minimize your own accomplishments to yourself. This is where it matters most, because each time you do this you are ingraining this pattern deeper and deeper into your unconscious.

And here's what happens: Achieving your goals rarely brings satisfaction and the message to your unconscious is, "Why bother?" Why bother being successful? Why bother losing weight? Why bother making positive changes? Why bother even trying? The end result is procrastination, self-sabotage, lack of motivation, and feeling hopeless, to name just a few. But this isn't the only way that lack of acknowledgement can show up in your life.

The other way this pattern manifests is that if you are not resonating with acknowledgement it's hard to get a sense of true fulfillment so you constantly push yourself to do, be, or have more and more. This of course leads to feelings of unworthiness and needing things to be perfect (including yourself), over-work, over-consumption, and always searching and never finding. Joy, contentment and even feeling true gratitude are always just out of reach.

As you can see, without acknowledgement, you can feel pretty empty inside. And you know that feeling empty inside leads to other problems such as emotional eating and weight gain because then you crave sugar, fat and starch for their endorphin-producing effects which give you a sensation of joy, connection and well-being. They don't call it comfort food for nothing!

But the great thing about acknowledgement is that it works in alignment with this Universal Truth: What you affirm expands. So take the time to pat yourself on the back. Create a new pattern of acknowledging your successes, no matter how small.

In fact, here's something that you can start doing right away and it won't cost you a cent. At the end of each day write down 5 things that you accomplished that day. These don't have to be monumental achievements, they can be as simple as getting out of bed, cooking a healthful meal, paying a bill, or smiling at a stranger.

Get in the habit of giving yourself credit and appreciation. Start acknowledging your successes and you'll find that your successes expand along with your level of contentment, satisfaction, joy and happiness.