Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Four-day Retreat in Bangkok, Thailand,
October 23, 1997 (Originally in English) Videotape No. 598

Why do you have to be so hard on yourself? How do you know that everyone else is better than you? Or even that I am better than you? I am no better than any of you. I just accept myself; I just feel that I am good. Because if God didn't feel good about me, Hes wouldn't have created me this way. Whatever Hes does, I am fine. Whatever I am, I am OK. So feel like that about yourself, or about anyone else. Of course, we have some things we don't like about ourselves. But then again, who are we to judge ourselves even? God said, "Don't judge," which doesn't just mean don't judge other people; it also means don't judge yourself.

Try your best. Do whatever makes you feel good. Whatever you can change, if it makes you feel good, then change it. If it doesn't make you feel good to change, then no matter how many people say it, don't change. And if you can't change, even if you know it's good, then don't change. Forgive yourself and enjoy. Enjoy whatever other things you have. And try to ignore the negative things that you feel you don't like about yourself as much as possible.

After all, God made us in all colors and all personalities so that we can live a colorful life. So, accept yourselves; accept your imperfections. There's no need to be perfect. I know you don't like my high heels, but I still wear them. It's all right. In the beginning, I didn't feel like wearing this make-up and all that. And then afterwards, I said, "Oh, why not?" It's no problem! Sometimes I feel comfortable; sometimes I don't feel comfortable. Sometimes I wear things like this, but when I am not with you I wear all kinds of things, like you do. It's also comfortable. Today, I don't really feel like wearing this, but it's OK, too. It serves some purpose. It's all right; no problem.

We should not be too hard on ourselves, because that means we are hard on God. We blame Hirm for creating us like this. We blame Hirm for putting us through situations that made us learn some bad habits. We blame Hirm for not helping us to change them and for the imperfection that we think Hes created. So don't worry about it. If Hes' happy with you, you should be happy with yourself. We are OK, actually.

You come here because you don't feel you're OK. And all I am trying to tell you is that you are OK, all this way, all this while. All the lectures, all the seminars, all the retreats, and all the questions and answers are meant just to drive home one point, which is that you are OK. It doesn't matter what you are; you are very special. Because no one else is like you. That's why you are OK. Take you away, and the world is different. Because there is something missing that is not you. No one else can replace it. So you must be OK.

All the bricks in a house -- some may be smaller, some may be bigger, some may have a hole in the middle, and some may have a stain or a defect somewhere, but they all hold the house together. Take one away, and the house is not the house any more. So you are OK. And so you are practicing just to accept yourself, just to know that you are God in the end. Or slowly realize that you're perfect in every way. Just like a grain of sand is perfect in every way, you are even more perfect.

Don't worry about everything that you do. Because now you know what's wrong and what's right already, anyhow. And you're trying your best to do it. Everyone knows. The whole universe knows you're trying your best, or else you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be suffering for your own so-called defects. Everyone knows that. So it's all right; just accept yourself. Because you're perfect anyhow. Who is there to judge you? "Let the one who is not guilty cast the first stone." I am not the one who casts that stone.