Accepting Things As They Are
What happens when things aren’t going your way? When what you expect to happen doesn’t? When what is happening is unpleasant, worrying, or devastating? How are you with it? Can you be with it?
In this week’s podcast we explore how bringing mindfulness allows us to accept things just as they are. When we don’t resist and we don’t hold on, we can allow what is here to be here. The judging mind wants to grab hold of or push away experience, the allowing mind, receives what is here with equanimity. (Episode 10 is all about Equanimity.) When we allow experience to be here, we see more clearly. We realize that we don’t have to like or dislike what is happening. We realize that we are part of the web of the universe. We’re not the center, we’re just part of it like everything else. When the wasp buzzes us, we can be still rather than react. By being still, we recognize the wasp’s beneficial nature as well as, how by reacting—by swatting—we stir up its potentially harmful nature.
We explore how when we are caught in reaction, by being with it—however it manifests— mindfully, we can dissipate the power, influence, and the dissatisfaction we feel when we are in the throes of reactivity. It’s interesting how by turning mindfully towards all the things we are afraid of, the things we don’t like, and our judgements, we discover that these are just parts of us that are asking for our help.
I hope you enjoy the show. Listen, subscribe, and please review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen.
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As always I am grateful for you, my audience, for your awareness, curiosity, and support. And, I am grateful for the people behind the scenes that make this podcast possible.
Allie Allen in San Francisco, California for logo and podcast cover design;
Gorgias Romero in Santiago, Chile for original music, audio engineering, and production;
Bill Rafferty in Sydney, Australia for technical web support, and
Margaret Haas in Los Angeles, California for announcing the show.
Be well. Be mindful.
RESOURCES/CREDITS
Rilke, Rainer Maria, Letters to a Young Poet, translated by M.D. Heater Norton, W. W. Norton & Company, 1954, Letter of August 12th, 1904, p. 69
DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional.
