The greatest gift you can give another human being is not your love, but rather your acceptance of them as they are. If you tell someone you love them, but you consistently show them that you do not accept them, as they are, then your love becomes a burden to you both.

Love without acceptance is conditional to both.
Love without acceptance is disappointing to both.
Love without acceptance is confusing to both.
Love without acceptance is frustrating to both.
Love without acceptance is painful to both.

If you want to improve your relationship with others first improve your relationship with yourself.

The key to accepting others as they are is to first accept yourself as you are, knowing that every day you are growing and improving.

You will find that there is more love in acceptance than you can ever express in words. It is a love that is authentic and it causes you to grow and become more of your true self. As you do, you begin to accept others as you accept yourself and they too experience the love that comes from acceptance.

Does this mean that you need to accept everything a person does? No, not at all. It means that you accept and love the PERSON. This is who they are right now. This is where they are today.

Spend more time accepting them and less time trying to improve them and you'll find that the relationship grows stronger and improvement becomes a mutual endeavor.

We each walk our own path. To hurry someone along in most cases slows them down. Just make sure that you are the best YOU that you are capable of being today and you'll find that you are more likely to bring out the best in others.

Affirmation: Today, I accept myself as I am with the knowledge that every day I'm growing and improving.

Author's Bio: 

L. Andrew Morgan is known as The Goals Coach by coaching clients, seminar participants, and more than 230,000 people around the world who enjoy his success messages via Twitter.

He is the author of "About Goals: The Daily Goals Tool Kit", and "About Goals: 101+ Quick Tips to Reach Your Goals". In addition, he has developed tools such as the "About Goals: Life-Motion Study" and "The About Goals Daily Journal", all designed to help achievers find clarity and focus to reach their objectives faster.

He currently lives on the east coast in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is the President of Break Out! Seminars and the founder of Http://www.AboutGoals.com.