Look, do not always be investigating yourself. Do not always be sizing yourself up. Give yourself some slack. Do not always be trying to improve yourself. Love yourself instead.

When you are a child, you do not have to make yourself grow taller. You don't have to think about it. You simply grow.

Perhaps you have been making yourself a project. You read up on this project. You see so well how much further you have to go. Yet, beloveds, you are not a sweater you are knitting. You don't have to think so much about completing yourself. You don't have to think so much about yourself altogether.

Stop weighing yourself every day. It is all right to stop investigating yourself. Hold the idea before you like a flag that you are naturally growing in the direction you want to grow in without all the advice from yourself.

It is natural that you want to be wiser, richer, more generous, more receptive, more loving. Have these desires, beloved, and let yourself be. Set yourself free from your blather. Allow yourself to be imperfect. Then you will be more joyful. Do not be a nag. Do not be the albatross that hangs around your neck. Love yourself. That does not mean that you rest on your laurels, yet you can absolve yourself from the past. You can let go of regret. You can let go.

I understand that you want to gain insights. Gain insights you will. You are in process of gaining Heaven. You are at the feet of the world, beloveds. In the arena of the world, you are not to be a gladiator, nor are you to be the throngs who put their thumbs up or down. Give yourself a break.

Be friendly to yourself. Be a friend more than you are a critic. Be a friend who likes you. Be a friend who sees beyond imperfection. Love what I have made. I made you a human being. I did not make you a chattel.

Do you think I am counting how many pounds you weigh? Or that I mind what color your hair is, what grade you got on a test? I do not mind if you flunked. I don't mind about the past, beloveds, nor do I wish you to.

You are not a race horse running to the finish line. You do not have to put spurs to yourself. Take a walk in the park instead. Allow yourself some leeway. Allow yourself some leisure. Let yourself be. What is your hurry to remake yourself? What satisfaction does your dissatisfaction give? Be content with yourself more than you are discontent.

Your conscience is not meant to be the making of you. If you were not stuck in the past, why would you calculate yourself and find yourself wanting?

Remind yourself that I created you, and I love what I have created. Have you been henpecking yourself? Do not hold the reins so tight. Improve your self-acceptance. Create more joy. You are not in school. You are in life. You are beautiful.

You are on a voyage across the High Seas. You steer the ship as best you can. If the winds one day blow you off course, today you get on course. If you are not paying attention one day, you pay attention the next. No wasting your voyage on recrimination. Do not go over and over the route you took. Simply sail on.

Who said that your voyage has to be smooth-sailing the whole time? As you sail, you do not go over and over the route you took. You are setting sail now. Look to the horizon, and you will get where you are going soon enough.