The Accepting Yourself Activity

Accepting yourself is a simple yet powerful self-reflection tool for focus on strengths and promote self-awareness.

Schedule this exercise at the conclusion of a significant, possibly lengthy program experience. Invite each person to identify their strengths and accomplishments for 10 minutes.

• Think of all the things that you have done well during this experience/program.
• List the things for which you feel a sense of accomplishment.
• List all of your positive
  strengths/accomplishments and successes.

When ready, re-gather your group. Invite one person to start by sharing their thoughts to the first section.

Next, invite the rest of your group to share any additional strengths they see in this person. Ask a volunteer to record these extra thoughts and affirmations on the individual’s worksheet, ie so they may be present to the feedback from others.

Continue this process until all participants have shared and received feedback from the rest of the group.

Moment of Reflection

• What were you saying to yourself while you completed the worksheet?
• Did you find this task difficult? Why?
• How do you think your strengths contributed to your successes?
• How did it feel to share these thoughts about yourself with the rest of the group?
• How did it feel to receive feedback from others?
• Were you surprised at some of the strengths others saw in you?
• As a group, what did we observe about the reactions of the person receiving this feedback?
• Is giving and receiving feedback a skill you would like to develop?
• What’s important about giving and receiving feedback?
• How do you think your list of strengths may contribute to settings goals for the future?

The topics of this publication: reflection, self, empathy, trust, strengths, feedback