So today's meditation is on acceptance.
And there's a great quote from Mother Teresa where she says,
I can handle anything God gives me.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
I bet we've all felt that way.
Go ahead and close your eyes.
Or if you're somewhere you can't,
You can leave them open.
Just start to settle into your body.
And the body is really where we start with our acceptance.
Accepting just being in the body.
Can you start accepting being here in this present moment,
In this body,
On this planet,
During this time period,
And having this life?
It's not a coincidence that life brings us things we can't accept.
Deep in those challenges is where we really transcend and transform ourselves from the inside out.
So right now choose one thing you've had trouble accepting.
It could be something big.
It could be something small.
Whatever naturally arises.
Often there's a level of resistance between the way things are and the way we want things to be.
The way things turned out or are turning out.
And the way we want them to turn out.
We don't have trouble accepting things when they turn out the way we like.
So that gap of resistance,
Let it start to melt off.
Just by you naturally accepting the reality of the way things are.
And that doesn't mean you can't change them in the future.
But to change something,
First you have to accept the reality that it is.
You can't change something you don't believe is true and that you don't accept.
Acceptance is an awareness of reality.
It is reality.
Without any filters,
Without any judgments,
Without putting your own desires,
Wants or needs in the way.
It just is what is.
And in that acceptance of what is,
You become free of what things are supposed to be.
If you want to meet someone really unhappy,
Find someone that is always fighting with the way things are.
The paradox is that we change the world by accepting it.
And we change ourselves by accepting who we are.
So whatever it is that you're working on accepting,
Be gentle with it.
Be still.
And know that the amount that you can't accept it is the same amount you can't accept yourself somewhere.
So as you start to accept yourself,
You'll naturally start to accept whatever it is that you're working on.
Notice that you can accept the air coming in and out of your body.
You accept the feeling of gravity.
You accept the space in the room.
You accept the thoughts in your head.
As you step into acceptance,
Your body can release a level of stress that naturally arises when you don't accept something.
Notice that acceptance is the present moment and that the present moment is reality.
Those three aspects are actually one.
Allow that acceptance to settle your body down and to bring you into a place of calmness.
The art of meditation is the art of not doing.
It's the opposite of everything else that you do.
Notice if there's a shift in that space around what you've been working on accepting.
Breathe deeply and accept yourself from head to toe.
From morning to night.
From birth to death.
From every time you've been right to every time you've been wrong.
You can begin to let go of whatever you're looking at and accepting.
Thank yourself for sitting for this meditation,
Being honest,
Being present,
Being real.
Give yourself some space to be joyful,
Playful,
Peaceful,
And most of all accepting.
Know that life doesn't give you anything you can't handle.
I wish you the best in your meditation practice and I'll see you soon.
