Discovering Simple Acceptance To Regulate

The brain/ nervous system loves choice, and simplicity. When we remember that we live in a both/and human experience, we are able to find empowerment, and the ability to regulate our brains and nervous system, even in challenging dynamics, even in an often chaotic world.
In this 15 minute rest recording done for a MIE class, we take our time to to connect with what we have simple choice with (and what we don't have choice with), with what we can accept (as well as what we may not be able to accept). We then keep bringing attention to simple choices, and simple acceptances, remembering we can access choice and acceptance in mundane moments throughout our day so as to be empowered participants in our own lives.

Transcript

So if you've got a candle, Go ahead and light that. And I'm just going to hold this candle in place for a few breaths and then I'll put it down. You can visually connect to my candle if you want or find something in your space that's very simple. Or it could be that you hold something in your hand that's very simple. So I'm holding this candle. I've got the sense mechanism of touch and sight so it really helps my brain to settle into something simple which is helpful for us. So either finding something simple visually or something simple tactilely for you or it could be a sound. And we'll just take a minute to let the senses connect, Calibrate, Calibrate to simple. We're going to continue to invite our senses to calibrate to simple and that takes intention. So using some effort to notice simple sounds. Let your ears, So to speak, Lean into them. Like when we were kids we sometimes we put our ears to the wall to lean into sound, To hear what was going on in the next room. We're going to do that in a way. We're going to lean into what simple sounds are here. Eyes open or closed, It's up to you. What sounds happen to be here? You may like them, You may not like them. We're going to do our best to utilize our non-judging brain, The part of our brain that's just noticing, That's not trying to control or manage anything. What sounds do you not need to change or fix? Then just for fun we'll move on to the sense of smell. What smells do you not need to change or fix in this moment? We're going to come back to sight. So if your eyes are closed just gently open them. Let them have a soft gaze and let your eyes find something that you don't need to change or fix. And then with the eyes we're going to go ahead and just do a very slow and gentle meandering of the space that we're in. We're going to verify to our brain and our nervous system that we're in a space that doesn't have threat or danger. And the only way for our brain to know that is for our eyes to, Or a sense mechanism to convey that information. So just gently letting your eyes do a very slow 360. So we look behind us, That engages the vagus nerve which is helpful, And just verifying that there's no imminent threat or danger in your space. There's walls that are solid, Ceiling and floor that's solid, And then coming back to a simple visual again. And then letting the eyes close we'll come into a simple sense of the sensation of that we pick up through the body directly. And just notice what comes into attention first, What's very simple in your sitting breathing body. What's something in your sitting and breathing body that you don't need to change or fix? There may be many of them. There's likely so many of these experiences that you might not even register and that's okay. We're just going to find some like a few. Maybe it's the hands that don't need to change. Maybe your armpits don't need to change. Maybe it's your feet on the floor or your feet somewhere that don't need to change. Maybe it's the air on the face. So I've just thrown out many. Could be completely different than the ones I've named. What of the breathing process is simple and easy that you don't need to change and likewise it could be many. Just let your attention notice is it do you need to change how the air is moving in and out of the nostrils or how the shoulders rise and fall or how the body moves with the breath. Finding some aspect of that breathing process that doesn't need to be any different than it is. There may be lots of things you want to be different and that's understandable, That's valid, That's human. So we're not trying to change those or even really in this moment focus on those. We might need to use a little effort to bring attention to the simple. We're not denying the other but we're practicing supporting our brain and nervous system by including what's simple. By including and bringing attention to and resting attention with what doesn't need to be different in this moment. Another word for connecting to what we don't need to be different and we don't need to fix or change is acceptance. When we're connecting with something that we simply accept our brain chemistry changes. So it's scientifically useful to know how to bring attention to what is simple, To know how to bring attention to what we can accept in this moment. Because there is a lot we cannot accept in our reality that's just part of being human. There's a lot of things that we resist or struggle with or have judgment about. So in this rest we're not going to try to change any of that. We're going to even see if we can accept that we don't have acceptance with everything like absolutely like yeah. And in this moment what can I accept? What do I accept that's so simple in this moment? And it may require effort. It may be very simple or easy. If it's difficult just gently bring your attention back to something simple when you notice your attention drift off. It could be a sound. It could be a sight. If you want to open the eyes back up. It could be a taste. It could be a smell. It could be a sense mechanism or just in general an experience. The experience of breathing into the nostrils for example. Or the experience of feeling the weight of gravity settle on your sit bones. Might be acceptance there or the way the hands are situated. There might be acceptance there or the temperature of something. So we're slowing down to shift the language a little bit to practice what's already happening but using some different language. I'm accepting how my hands are settled in my lap which is something very real for me in this moment. We're not complicating it through concept. We're connecting to the simple experience. The hands don't need to be different using my example. They're okay as they are. So coming to your own experience and finding what is that for you. And I'm going to be quiet for a few breath cycles just to experiment with that. And when we're practicing with connecting to actual factual i. E. What's simple i. E. What we're accepting and acceptance of. We can go really micro. So I might go all the way to my pinkies. I accept how my pinkies are touching in this moment. There's a simpleness there. Or I might zoom out. I accept that my body is breathing in air and breathing out air. We can get really particular or micro and we can get more macro, A little more vague or um out a little bit. I accept that my ears hear. Spending a few more breathing cycles on this. Letting your attention experiment and explore. Again a reminder that if thoughts go to past or future or to judgment we've just accidentally and innocently left this moment. Just gently come back to what is right here. What is simply true in terms of actual factual. Beyond the sense of right, Wrong, Good or bad. But it's just simply here. We're going to come out of this rest and you can let the body move with the eyes open or closed. Just letting your body move a little bit. Come back more into its animated self. Discovering you have arms and legs and a spine, Feet, Hands. And if there's something useful that you discovered in this rest or that you learned about your relationship to acceptance or your relationship to this moment. Go ahead and take a couple moments to write things down that you maybe want to remember. And then when you're ready you can come back to the screen.

Reviews

This was very helpful for me to come into this present moment with noticing.
🙏🙏🙏