What would it be like to accept yourself completely and unconditionally? Every bit of that thing that you see in the mirror, that goes with you everywhere, that never seems to switch off, not even when you’re sleeping because it dreams?
What would it be like to look at every part of you –
the parts that you cringe at, the parts that you try so hard to hide or to change or re-sculpt or camouflage whether through exercise or surgery or clothing,
the parts that frighten you, like the red spot on your skin that doesn’t seem to go away or that hardness that’s appeared over a bone and hurts when you put pressure on it, or that lump in your breast…
the parts that embarrass you like that grey hair that keeps reappearing no matter how often you dye your hair, or that fat that seems to hang from your waist like a balloon filled with water, or that kink in your finger or the pimple on your face or that gap in between your teeth where there once was a tooth,…
the parts that irritate you like those eyes that seem useless unless they’ve got a pair of spectacles over them, or that skin on your face and around your neck that seem to have turned into curtains and lost their glow –
and joyously and peacefully ACCEPT all of it as it is, without condemning it or condemning yourself or wanting to change it?
What would that feel like?
What would it be like if you remembered every single nasty, embarrassing, scary, shameful, guilt-ridden, idiotic thing that you ever did or said or felt and just reached out to it and gave it a hug so complete and so free of any condition or any judgment?
What would that feel like?
Have you ever tried it? If not, why don’t you?
All of us, somewhere along the line, have learned to reject or deny parts of our self whether for moral, social, cultural, fashionable, religious or political reasons. By rejecting or denying parts of ourselves, we become walking battle fields forever in a state of conflict.
Here, there is no ceasefire for if we’re not consciously rejecting, denying or changing some aspect of ourselves, we are most certainly doing it unconsciously.
If you stopped to think about it, really think about it, you’ll realize how diabolically insane this is. Why? For 2 main reasons:
1. We are afraid of the physical danger this thing might put us in such as disease or death
2. We are afraid of the rejection, displeasure or disapproval of others
Of the two, the fear of disease or death surely is not that insane, now is it? Nobody wants to suffer from any disease and the road to death by disease is often a painful one, not just for ourselves but for those close to us.
But it is diabolically insane to reject, deny or change whatever it is that we believe is threatening our life because in doing so, we’re holding our energy in a state of conflict and conflict, being a destructive use of energy, cannot have a constructive/healing outcome
It is equally insane to reject, deny or change something about ourselves for fear of rejection, displeasure or disapproval by others because it means making our happiness conditional upon others and what could be more disempowering?
But, diabolically insane as both these reasons may be, they’re perfectly understandable:
That’s how we’ve been conditioned.
Now, we have some choices.
We can wake up to our conditioning, we can take stock of how it has made us think, feel, speak and behave the way we do and we can decide if we want to continue to be subjects (or victims) of our conditioning.
OR We can wake up to our conditioning and then go back to sleep again.
Believe it or not, most people choose the second. To them, the following make a lot of sense:
• Let sleeping dogs lie
• If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it
• Why rock the boat?
• I don’t want to get out of my comfort zone
• Fear of the unknown
• The devil I know is better than the devil I don’t
Are you one of the many? I truly hope not. But if you are, here’s my invitation to you to stay awake and I invite you to stay awake because I know that the benefits of staying awake are priceless.
To start you off on your Wakeful Journey, I invite you to do go back to the start of this post and indulge in the thought experiment I described.
Allow yourself to look in the mirror, to reflect on the past and to look at all the things that you consciously and unconsciously have been denying. Have no doubt, the unconscious ones will spring to mind when you give them permission to.
And allow yourself to accept each and every one of those unconditionally. You might think first and then allow yourself to FEEL the following:
I approve and accept you (wrt the thing) fully and unconditionally.
I have rejected and denied and tried to change you for all the wrong reasons.
I approve and accept you fully and unconditionally.
I thank you for being a part of me.
I approve and accept you fully and unconditionally.
Just try this please and see how free and unburdened you feel. How much softer and loving you are toward yourself and others. How much more joyous and peaceful you feel.
Stop the war within you. Once and for all.MENTORING
Let Life express itself intoxicatingly, uniquely, powerfully and limitlessly in, as and through you. Don’t settle, whatever your age. Know your true Self. Follow your Bliss. Live the Life that you know you want to! Contact me here.
MINDFULNESS ONLINE
Join me every week to sit in the presence of your true Self and experience the greatness of Life flowing naturally, effortlessly and powerfully in, as and through you!