Manhood

How do I accept myself without excusing my flaws?

Acceptance of self, he stresses, is not acceptance of sin or character flaws — it is accepting the personality God hardwired into each person, which he says is largely set in the first years of life and has no 'cure.' Every strength carries a corresponding weakness, and the work is directing the God-given traits toward good: he tells how he was forever called 'too intense' until he noticed the saints were all too intense, and realized the problem was only where the intensity was aimed. In a world where everyone wants to be someone else, he calls self-acceptance a superpower, citing St Isaac the Syrian: make peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will make peace with you.