Patient-Acceptance

This is a guided meditation on patient-acceptance, which accompanies the previous audio "Four Aspects of Patient-Acceptance". Using the power of our imagination, we see how approaching challenges with Acceptance, Understanding, Love, and Fortitude, ultimately empowers us and brings us greater well-being in difficult circumstances.

Transcript

So we can begin our meditation by first of all finding a comfortable posture One in which ideally our back can be nice and straight If this isn't possible,

Any posture in which we can be quite comfortable and quite still And as we get comfortable bringing attention into the body Connecting with our immediate experience of being embodied All the various tactile sensations occurring from moment to moment And taking a deep breath in through the nose And a slow exhale through the mouth,

Feeling more at ease,

More relaxed A second deep breath in,

Even slower than the first And a third,

Final,

Deep soothing breath And then allow all the different points of your body,

That whole tension to begin to soften,

Relax Particularly any tension in the shoulders,

Tension found in the face And then we can venture into this practice Contemplating the mind of patient acceptance And the four aspects of patient acceptance talked about in the previous audio The roots of the word resentment has the meaning of to feel again And we all have some resentments,

Holding on to harm that has been caused in the past And this is a painful experience When you hold on like this,

You feel the pain repeatedly And sometimes these resentments may feel like they offer security from future harm But with an openness to forgiveness,

Patient acceptance By trying to let go,

You can free up space in the heart and mind To allow love,

Care and well-being to take root And there are many things in life that we face that we cannot change Illness,

Harm,

Disappointments,

People behaving badly,

Things not turning out the way we want And any time we resist,

Any time we want life to be different than it is Then we are caught up in impatience and suffering The heart,

The mind contorts,

We lose our sense of humour And instead,

Self-pity,

Despair and blame seep into the heart So we can deliberately cultivate a mind of forbearance,

Of patient acceptance This mind that is able to recognise those things we cannot change Give up the idea that they should be different Cut through the whys and its not fairs And have understanding that,

For better or worse,

Whether I would have chosen it or not This is the way it is It strips back the layers that compound our suffering This is already a challenging situation We want our very best self,

Our best mind to attend to it And so this mind of patient acceptance,

It is an attitude change From one of despair to one of fortitude and strength The strength to hold firm in difficult times and keep our wisdom and our compassion beaming Rather than giving up The truth is,

We have that strength within us already We've used it many times And to cultivate it now simply means to connect with it And resolve to bring that attitude,

Patient acceptance,

To daily life So if you feel comfortable doing so I want you to imagine a scenario now Something which you could face Or something that you do face regularly In which you become frustrated,

Upset A situation where you rebel,

You reject Where you want it to be different,

So desperately Want it to be different This could be a work scenario,

Not working out the way we want it to Could be something about our personal life,

Something getting in the way Something about our body or health,

Family or friends Choosing something we feel comfortable working with right now And we're imagining this scenario,

We're allowing it to play out in our mind And as you do so,

There may be a tightening Some suffering may come up That's okay,

We give that permission We're in a safe space,

We're comfortable,

We're free from any real harm We can be open to feeling some discomfort So we soften,

Give it permission And then I would like for you to imagine How the situation would be How we would relate to the situation Were we to come to it with this first aspect of acceptance Acceptance simply meaning this view,

This is how it is For better or worse,

Whether I wanted it or not I give up the idea that it should be different This is how it is now So just imagining how would this situation be different How would we be different in this situation Were we to come to it with a wholehearted acceptance This is how it is That's all,

This is how it is And then imagine coming to this situation with understanding The second aspect This understanding that takes a wider view Of all the different causes and conditions All the different things that came together That made it this way We often have a very narrow view Blaming or seeing only one cause,

One thing Like looking at a landscape through a straw Instead,

Imagine coming to this situation And how would it be different,

How would you be different If you could see it from all the different angles Everybody else's perspective All the different minor and major causing conditions That came together to make it so Cutting through the why is this happening The it's not fair,

It shouldn't be this way Understanding why it is this way Understanding that it's not personal But it is the natural consequence Of all these myriad causes and conditions coming together Next,

Imagine coming to this situation With the third aspect Love,

Compassion This mind that sees and holds your own suffering in compassion But also sees others' suffering And thinks of their well-being as well Recognising that we all want to be happy We all want to be free of suffering That is a truth And that we're all caught up,

All mixed up In this mess of mental affliction,

Anger,

Delusion,

Jealousy,

Cynicism and so on But we're all the same on this core level We want to be happy,

Free of harm So can we,

Again,

Take a bigger perspective See it from others' side as well See their suffering as well as our own Instead of there being an us versus them Coming together Holding everybody's struggle in compassion How would the situation be different?

How would you be different?

If you could come to that situation With this strong mind of compassion and love Holding everybody's struggle in well-being And then,

The fourth aspect Can you imagine coming to this situation With the mind of fortitude Which is an attitude of strength Strength to hold firm in the midst of challenge The mind that rises to challenge That says,

I will not be robbed Of the qualities that I hold most dear It is the strength,

The resolve That says,

In the midst of unkindness May I be kind And in the midst of ill-will May I be loving In the midst of hatred,

May I be compassionate In the midst of irritation,

May I be patient In the midst of darkness,

May I continue to be a light It is this strong mind,

A mind that holds firm That brings enough kindness for everyone involved That brings enough strength for everyone involved It says,

This is my mind,

Not yours And I am choosing my own way here How would this situation be different?

How would you be different?

If you were to come to it with this Strong attitude of strength,

Fortitude And then I'd like for you to finish with A sense of determination An intention To connect with this inner strength that we have already And a resolve to bring Our very best wisdom and compassion To bring this attitude of patient acceptance To daily life and its challenges Knowing that all positive results begin with an intention I can bring this mind of patient acceptance to my challenges And I will do my very best To bring acceptance,

Understanding,

Love and fortitude To the difficulties that I face I can take another deep breath in Feeling energized and motivated And an exhale out Releasing that which holds us back Releasing those resentments Another deep breath in And an exhale out Feeling lighter and ready Thank you

Reviews

David this is the most beautiful reminder to me of the need for patience, understanding and compassion as I navigate a big change in my life. Thank you so much for sharing this meditation and words of wisdom

Thank you 🙏🏻

Beautiful! 🙏

Gratitude for sharing this beautiful meditation. 🙏