Unconditional Acceptance

In this meditation you will learn to allow yourself to be accepted unconditionally, and the freedom that comes when you drop the perceived separation from others. You will learn to open up and express your emotions, allowing others to support you just as you are. This will help you let go of a lone wolf mentality and realize the importance of accepting help from others.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to an Insight Timer premium track.

My name is Lou Redmond.

Thank you so much for being here.

It's such a gift to be able to share this work with you.

Today is a meditation around the power of acceptance,

Of allowing ourselves to feel fully welcomed in the communities that we're in,

In the groups that we're involved in.

And there's a longer talk to this meditation that you can find separately.

But for today,

I just wanted to give a short introduction and welcome you to the practice.

We're going to be exploring and bringing awareness to the places in our life where we're feeling a sense of separation.

And often it's based on our own creations.

It's often based on feeling like we're above others or we're different than others,

Or feeling like we're below,

Inferior,

Disconnected.

And so we'll explore all of that.

And of course,

It's based on my own experience and feeling this separation.

And if you want to hear more about that,

You can check out the full length talk,

But I wanted to keep this as a meditation so you can just jump right into doing this as a practice for yourself.

All right,

So let's go ahead and move in and get into our meditation today.

So beginning to move into your body and taking any movements,

Taking any stretches that might be supportive for you to shift into a more still and inward focus space.

So whatever that means for you,

Maybe there's some shoulder rolls,

Maybe turn your neck back and forth,

Just letting things slow down as you close your eyes and start to get acquainted with your body.

Get acquainted with the support of your chair,

Your cushion,

Floor,

Right away allowing the weight of your body to start to drop down,

Noticing the places that you might be unconsciously grasping or tightening.

I often find my shoulders are tightening up without even me realizing it.

And so just seeing if you can do a scan of your body and release any of the unconscious tension that we hold and setting up your posture.

Shoulders are above hips,

Ears above shoulders,

Lengthen the back of the neck.

So there's just a gentle tuck of the chin,

Feeling a long line from the root through the crown of your head,

Through the spine,

Letting the shoulders melt down the back,

Inviting a softness through the forehead and the eyebrows and around the eyes,

Relaxing the lower jaw from the upper jaw,

Slowing down,

Letting the body ease,

Whether it's into this day or into this night or afternoon,

Wherever you're at,

Always a good time to reconnect with what's happening inside and to further ground to connect with the theme of this practice.

What I invite you to do is,

You might have a mental snapshot of what's around you in your room.

If you need to open your eyes for a second to get that,

You can,

But maybe it's a room you're in a lot.

And so,

You know,

What's around where the couch is or where the pictures are,

Plants that are in the room.

So you can just get a sense of the space that you are in externally,

What's around you.

And in the spirit of today's practice,

See if you can simply allow and accept your external environment to be exactly as it is.

And there might be things scattered.

Maybe there's things that are dirty or not cleaned up,

Or maybe your room is very clean.

Whatever the case,

Can you stay in your body as you allow the external environment,

Perfect or imperfect,

To just be exactly as it is.

And just settle into that for a moment.

Notice what that's like,

Accepting what's around you,

And then moving from the external into the internal and coming into again your physical body.

And this can be a little bit harder to work with.

So if you notice the resistances come up,

That's normal.

So again,

Slow down,

Breathe,

Be in your physical body,

Feel your body as a whole.

And our relationship with our body is important and can vary by day,

By year.

And so exploring if just now,

Just here,

If you can accept and welcome your body as it is,

Right here.

I know judgments might come up,

Shame might come up,

Fear might come up.

And with a gentle,

Compassionate view,

Noticing if that's the case,

Slowing down and just welcoming your body exactly as it is,

Right here,

Right now.

Nothing to change,

Nothing to prove,

Even accepting the judgments.

They're welcomed here too.

And maybe there's areas of your body that are harder to accept than others,

And noticing that and maybe even giving a little bit more love to those areas.

And then just being with your breath as you accept what's internal,

What's external,

This moment where you are right now.

Feeling the breath that is always with you,

Moving in and out,

Giving you life,

Just noticing its cadence,

This ever-present anchor that we can come back to when we get caught up in the shame,

The fear,

The doubt,

The uncertainty,

The stress,

The anxiety.

Feeling your breath and allowing what is to be.

And then together we'll take a conscious breath in,

Letting that go,

Moving into the core of this work that we're exploring today.

And to begin,

I'd like to ask,

Where in your life do you feel like you don't fit in,

Or you're not accepted,

Or you feel a separation,

Like you're on the outside looking in?

Where,

When does this show up for you?

Start to hold this situation just in your awareness,

Don't go too much into it,

Just holding it lightly.

And as you hold it,

Noticing what's happening inside,

Noticing what starts to happen in your body.

And what's the judgments that come up that aid to this separation?

Maybe you speak them internally,

Or maybe you speak them out loud.

They don't like me,

I'm not as good as them,

They're part of this group and I'm not part of this group.

What are those judgments that keep you separated?

And as you speak them,

Notice what starts happening internally.

Feel the disconnect and the separation that these are aiding to.

And notice how these are conditions that you are creating for them to accept you.

And as you do this,

Maybe you even see an image of what that disconnection looks like.

Maybe it's like a broken bridge or a sense of it,

Of them being far away.

If an image doesn't come,

Just stay with feeling of separation.

And just taking a snapshot of what this is like,

And we're going to come back to this,

But letting this go for now.

And then ask yourself,

Is there anywhere in your life where you are feeling superior or where you are not liking other people?

You are creating the separation from other people.

Not only what you think they are saying about you,

But where are you making that separation?

Maybe you notice it's a similar place,

Or maybe something else comes up.

Maybe it's a group of people where you're feeling separate.

You're creating separation.

And notice in your body if that energy feels the same or different.

Notice if an image comes,

Maybe it's similar or different.

And then notice these two places together,

Where you're not feeling accepted by others,

And where you're not accepting others.

And holding those two together,

They're really two sides of the same coin.

And what I'd like to offer,

And you can see if it resonates for you,

Is that this separation,

Both sides have nothing to do with anyone else.

It's all you.

And so to begin this work,

Bring your awareness to the place where you're not feeling accepted or welcomed by others.

Come back to that group or person or however it shows up.

And then bring your awareness onto yourself,

And see if you can own that you're creating this separation.

And if you don't feel like you are,

Just notice that.

It's okay.

And then bring your awareness into your heart.

And we're going to explore some of these affirmations and see how they land with you.

It's okay to be me,

Just as I am at this moment.

All of me is welcomed here.

I am welcomed unconditionally.

I accept myself unconditionally.

One more time.

It's okay to be me,

Just as I am at this moment.

All of me is welcomed here.

I am welcomed unconditionally.

I accept myself unconditionally.

Maybe repeating one of those that really lands for you,

That you need to connect with more.

As you continue to repeat this,

Imagine the separation that you've created with this person or this group just start to dissolve.

So the boundaries between you and them soften,

Almost as if you start becoming one,

The energy starts to becoming one together.

See if you can feel what this is like.

Maybe even imagine the bridge comes together and there's this connection,

This unity.

And gentle breath in.

We're going to shift now to where you are creating the otherness,

Where you feel like other people are different than you.

One is you feeling different than others.

And this is where you're making other people feel different than you.

You're feeling superiority or judgment towards them.

And taking this again,

Wherever it comes,

Maybe it's your family and old friend,

Maybe it's an entire political party.

Where do you need the work?

And feel and see them in your awareness.

Notice the separation again,

Feel what that's like.

And before we go into this unconditional acceptance,

I want to be clear that this doesn't mean that you're condoning bad behavior or crossing of boundaries.

This is more practice on a human to human level.

And so again,

Imagine,

Feel that separation with this person or this group of people and sharing with them.

It's okay to be you just as you are at this moment.

All of you is welcomed here.

You are welcomed unconditionally.

You are accepted conditionally.

And again,

Repeating one or a few of those.

And as you do,

Seeing if you can feel the boundaries between you and them start to dissolve,

Feeling that connection,

Noticing what that's like.

And then lastly,

Imagining both of those groups as being the same person.

And then finally,

Imagine that you're the same person.

And you're not the same person.

And feeling that connection,

Noticing what that's like.

And then lastly,

Imagining both of those groups,

Two sides of that coin.

They're both there and feeling the connection between all of them,

Feeling the boundaries of separation fully dissolve the energy of oneness of unity with all of them,

Almost as if you and them are one being one energy field.

And maybe repeating this in an us,

It's okay to be us,

Just as we are at this moment.

All of us is welcomed here.

We are welcomed unconditionally.

We are accepted unconditionally.

And you're welcome to repeat or you're welcome to just enjoy that feeling of unity for another minute or so.

Then together,

We'll take a full conscious breath in,

Letting it all go.

And in your own time,

There's no rush.

Whenever you're ready,

Slowly reemerging and opening your eyes and back into your space.

Thank you so much for listening.

Again,

It's a treat to share with you.

And I hope you got something from this practice.

If you would like,

Please leave a comment.

I love hearing from you.

I love seeing how these practices relate to you what you got out of it.

And so leave a comment,

Let me know what you thought.

And I look forward to sharing with you again very soon.

Namaste.

Reviews

This is great. I feel separation on both sides and this feels like a tool that when used regularly can be beneficial.