Self-Acceptance , denial of which is the root cause of most of the diseases

following are some thoughts shared in a beautiful book called ' Yoga and Kriya'. I personally feel one should ponder and meditate over this fact ,how much do we accept ourselves as they way we are....

"Accept your nature as it is now, whatever its obvious faults. Try not to continually feel that you are somehow inferior to others or that you are riddled with shortcomings and defects.It is only in this way that the grosser aspects and neuroses of the mind will drop away.If elephants spent their time wishing they were goldfish, or peacocks spent their time wishing they were cows, then they would live totally useless and disharmonized lives. But animals live in accordance with the way that they have been designed. They have a unique role (dharma) to perform in the kaleidoscopeof life and they do it. Because of this, they live harmoniously.

Man should also live a harmonized, tuned in life, but unfortunately this is rarely the case.Man can never accept himself and his faults,and in away this is a good thing for it motivates him to overcome his apparent limitations and elevate himself to the higher realms of understanding and bliss. But generally the lack of self-acceptance is too overwhelming; it totally grinds a person into an overburdened state of worry and dissatisfaction, which leads to a life that is lived at a very low level compared to the possible potential. There should be more self-acceptance combined with the need to improve oneself. There should be aspiration for self improvement,but not neurosis because of the

faults that a man sees in himself. Try to accept your present personality, no matter what its obvious weaknesses and faults, but still have the aspiration to overcome them.

Non self-acceptance as a cause of disease

The inability to accept oneself is a fundamental cause of disease. Lack of self-acceptance results not only in mental disturbances, but also physical ailments. Mental dissatisfaction leads to a reflection and manifestation in the physical body.

Anger is widely regarded as a fault, but anger is actually a safety valve for all pent-up feelings. But many moralistic systems and codes say: 'do not be angry' or 'anger is a sin'.Because of this, many people suppress their anger but the driving force behind the anger has to express itself somehow. It is rechanneled.If the suppression of anger is great enough and for prolonged periods of time it results in high blood pressure, or heart attack and so many other prevalent diseases. So we urge you to express your anger, if it is possible (sometimes circumstances make it difficult).
Don't feel any pangs of guilt about your anger. Be angry, for it is better to express it openly than to transform it into disease at a later date.But when you feel angry be aware and in time the anger will disappear.
 
Accept your nature, whether it is 'bad' or 'good'. Don't feel guilt. Accept your character for what it is: a product of circumstances.Acceptance will lead to acceptance of others.Don't suppress thoughts, whatever their nature. Accept that there are unruly traits and desires within you and eventually these disturbing traits will drop away. Let the hidden aspects of your subconscious mind rise to the surface. Don't fight them and don't be ashamed of them. Let them arise and face them. If you suppress them they will still influence your whole life, but from the murky depths of the subconscious mind. So you might as well let them bubble to the surface where you can become familiar with them. Eventually  you will lose interest in them. They will fade away and no longer disturb your life, in the same way that water evaporates from a damp cloth placed in the hot sun. The evaporation occurs without the slightest effort "