Acceptance Talk

Session on acceptance, recorded by Dr. Ana Johnson, Ph.D. Acceptance of the moment, of the environment, of the circumstances, of the many situations we may find ourselves in. Finally, acceptance of ourselves and self love.

Transcript

The topic for this session is acceptance.

Acceptance of the moment,

Of our environment,

Circumstances,

Those situations we find ourselves in,

Any situations,

And acceptance of ourselves,

Self-love.

And I'm not just talking about when we are in a good mood or happy.

I'm talking about especially when we do not feel so great about a situation or feel so good about ourselves even.

When that happens,

We tend to strain to be a virtual reality of perfection of ourselves.

We all strive for this.

How do we remember then to have an honest conversation with the present moment?

How do we remember to live a life that is not just about the present moment,

But about the future?

How do we remember to live a life that is not just about the present moment,

But about the future?

How do we remember to live a life that is not just about the present moment,

But about the future?

How do we remember to live a life that is not just about the present moment,

But about the future?

How do we remember to live a life,

Whether we're in our teens,

Midlife,

Or in our 60s or even 100s,

Such that we understand life in the moment,

So that we embrace life to its fullest,

Whether we're in dire circumstances or in joy.

We're often pulled in different directions from what we want from us and what the world,

That means society,

Our spouse,

Our child,

Our children,

Our jobs,

Want from us.

We're often pulled in different directions between what others want and what we want.

Sometimes it's only when we encounter ourselves in darkness and despair,

Success and joy,

That we do not forget about our origin,

Really,

And what lies at the center of our complexity as human beings,

Holding all the different contexts and origins together.

It's really a central imagination,

A force of creation,

A creativity that's in there,

An awareness of everything else,

An awareness of our thoughts,

Our feelings,

Our sensations.

Each of us has a different perception of what this primordial energy is,

And different ways that we resonate best within each of us,

And how to access this source of vitality.

18th century poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats described this central imagination,

This awareness within,

As a secondary imagination in bringing our thoughts and sensory experiences together,

Convalescing them all to create something new,

To create a new perspective of our lives.

This ability to think of new ideas is called fancy by them.

And we all have a sense of seasonality within ourselves that's reflected in the outer environment.

It could be a fruit that is about to fall off the tree,

Or the leaves indicating the changing seasons.

The primary imagination is viewed to be our senses,

Really,

Which may distort our sense of reality at any given point in time.

We may identify with our own thoughts and feelings that may be a result of previous traumatic experiences or bad outcomes or occurrences.

So first,

It's really important that we discover that image inside of ourselves through our senses.

Do we feel constricted in any way?

What does it feel in the body?

If we can't stay with those feelings or emotions because they're so dire and heavy and desperate,

Can we call forth this fancy,

This creative force greater than ourselves to provide us with the creativity and drive to be able to hold all these different feelings and thoughts at the same time,

Thereby holding a conversation with life,

Juggling all the disparate elements at once within ourselves and outside of ourselves,

Recognizing that no one moment ever stays the same.

We have seasons,

Winter turning into spring,

And spring turning into summer.

There's a saying as writer and poet Natalie Colburn references,

When we're on top of a 100-foot pole,

What are the options?

We can fall or we can fly.

And there are probably myriad of other possibilities and options.

Let's remember that darkness and light are woven into our days.

And we all hold all these disparate parts of our lives in specific ways in which no other human being shares,

Has never shared or ever will until the end of human recorded time.

I have a poem that I wrote on this topic about us all being unique.

Here it goes.

We're all unique.

Once we were unwilling to be born.

We were reluctant to enter and join the pack.

Yet we're all attracted to something on earth,

A voice called to us,

Never look back.

We had plans.

We were all entrusted with gifts to bear.

Each of us had responsibilities and flair.

Then we're born and we find that no one is special and yet everyone is extraordinary.

This is how it is for everybody.

We're all born onto family stories based on towns,

Nations,

Planets.

It's universal.

There's a constant nudging and invitation for us to allow ourselves to be just who we are,

Bare,

Full of secrets.

We remember that we can always start again without judging wherever we are,

Like mighty fledgling eaglets.

How do we experience to be ourselves?

We remember we're exceptional beings,

Each of us unique in this one of a kind adventure in this quotidian world.

We remember to salute each day and wonder.

We glorify the present moment,

Joyful,

Furious,

Confused.

Yet we're backed up by historical enigmatic energies in this mystifying existence.

So if we can stay close to ourselves and really notice any constrictions or restrictions,

Perhaps then we can notice if we maybe had a lot of sleep and we're overflowing with energy.

What does it feel in the body?

Or maybe we didn't have enough sleep and our eyes are closing.

Can we feel our eyes closing?

Can we really notice our facial contraction that way?

Or maybe we had something to eat,

Dairy or wheat or shellfish that really didn't agree with us.

Can we stay close to that felt sense of discomfort?

Any constrictions in our bodies?

Some of these constrictions and ill feelings come from our hereditary constitution and even our childhood.

We want to remember that we're all made of many characteristics,

Confluences from educational systems,

Culture,

Teachers,

Synchronicities,

And our DNA.

As Irish poet David White says,

We're not a troubled guest on this earth.

We're not an accident among other accidents.

So our lives are really unique.

These forces within us,

All of the various tides will never occur again.

All our individual qualities and differences have not ever been bound together in this way,

In the way within us.

We each have a different way of facing joy and sadness in life.

And I'll finish off with reading another poem that really taps into our hereditary nature and what we can do about what we find within ourselves.

Here it is.

Magical.

As you sit quietly,

Flutter your eyes,

Soften your gaze.

Let your fingers move ever so slightly.

You sense your fingers connected with your hands and your hands connected with your mind.

You feel all sensations from inside out.

As you move your fingers,

You experience free friction from your mind.

Any angst released,

Any dormant drives unleashed,

Neuros flying.

You feel the energy flow inside your body.

You remember you're a body holder.

You inherited cells in your extraordinary frame,

Bones heaving and compacting through lifetimes.

Your bone marrow replete with profound partitions,

Over 50,

000 blood stem cells,

Stowed away for generations and millennia.

You may say,

I am not responsible for how all this began in my body,

Or I am not responsible for past transgressions.

The plight of indigenous peoples,

Laborers,

The killing and pillaging.

You may have been barely there when your build was designed.

And here you are,

The present inhabitant of a vessel with soothing rifts and shapely knees and elbows.

You are the successor of your precious body.

Yet you did not create your curved nose or your graceful mouth,

But they belong to you to tend to now.

Unheeded,

Any creaks of your bones and muscles will not heal themselves.

Any DNA will not disappear.

Rather,

You'll pass all knowledge onto your descendants,

Your blood,

Your education,

Your influence.

When you inhabit and inherit DNA,

Riddled with cortisol or stress hormones,

You have a choice.

If you adapt to your own idiosyncratic perils,

Lurking within your ancient human design,

The uncomfortable may turn into acquiescence,

And acquiescence may turn into the opportune.

You may then start believing that unthinkable events of antiquity are normal,

And you may come to believe that the inexplicable is the way of living.

Instead,

You're invited to truly feel into your sensations,

To uncover the mystery of life,

And based,

B-A-S-T-E,

In your own light,

First turn into B,

Your breath.

Focus on the quietness of the body,

A sunk stillness,

Bringing your mind to your belly region.

Feel the way your mind is breathing here,

How the air naturally opens,

Inhale,

And naturally closes,

Exhale with your full acceptance.

Then you take A for based,

And you become aware of what surrounds you.

Maybe you're at a doctor's office or at a bus stop.

You ground yourself to the present moment.

You notice the desk or the bus.

Now you're ready to plunge into S for based,

Sensations of your body.

What is unobserved,

The foundation within?

Your individual structure,

The collective unconscious,

Encryptions from thousands of years.

Moving your attention to your fingers and hands,

You notice any tingling,

Vibration,

Or tension.

A delicate dance,

Entering into your own existence.

You feel alive.

You turn your attention to T for based,

For thoughts,

Viewing them as scaffolding your temporary building plans,

Plans drawn on water,

Emerging in an instant,

Remaining only for a fleeting moment,

And melting,

Returning to formlessness,

From whence they arise.

And you move into your heart,

Allowing vitality to pour into your heart.

You call forth a sense of stillness,

Peace,

And tenderness.

You become familiar with a sort of straightforward knowing here,

Not observing from the mind,

Or returning into thinking.

You feel alive.

Gateways previously sealed begin to open.

Now you call forth E for empathy,

For based.

As you imagine your fingers and hands touching your own heart.

In the same way,

Your significant other,

Child,

Or pet would touch your heart with delicate fondness.

You realize a breeze passes through you,

Ashes of generation blown away.

You sense as though you have just dipped into a bath,

Basing in your own magical body.