Acceptance

Most people tend to live life with superfluous amounts of guilt, shame, worry and anxieties.  These attributes in an unhealthy (neurotic) person causes them become fearful, phobic, irrational, obsessed, and disturbed.  The Self-Actualizers distinguish themselves from most people because they are able to accept themselves (their own nature) without vexation or criticism.  They accept their own nature in the same way that most people accept that…

"…water is wet, rocks are hard and trees are green.  As the child looks out upon the world with wide, uncritical, undemanding, innocent eyes, simply noting and observing what is the case, without either arguing or demanding it be otherwise, so does the self-actualizing person tend to look upon human nature in himself an in others."  - Maslow

 In other word, the self-actualizer has a real grasp on who they are and what they are observing. 

They are fully immersed in the “now” and this allows them to have a clear perspective on things.  They also are not attempting to hear or see what they want or prefer to hear and see.  They simply see things as they are in the present situation and based on this then they take action. Self-actualizers embody the attitude Eckhart Tolle talks about in The Power of Now. 

“Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.  Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy.”  Eckhart Tolle 

 This allows Self-Actualizers to enjoy the miracles of life.  Still the Self-Actualizer is not free from feeling embarrassment, repentant, unhappiness and apprehension. 
The areas that a Self-Actualizer feels guilt and shame are in the ways they can improve themselves.  Losing their temper, being lazy, hurting someone’s feeling, being inconsiderate or insensitive, being envious, having a prejudice will cause the self-actualizer to feel guilt and shame.  However, they observe this as an area in their life where they need to improve and grow.  

“The general formula seems to be that self-actualizers will feel bad about discrepancies between what is and what might very well be or ought to be”.   Maslow.  

 The self-actualized person is a person who does not allow guilt to stultify his/her life.  They accept their limitation as part of their character and figure out a way to live life to the fullest.