Only You Can Be You! The Act Of Self Acceptance Is The Path Toward Authenticity
From Rik Center:
Only You Can Be You! The Act Of Self Acceptance Is The Path Toward Authenticity.
We sit on this tree branch called life, it may seem the branch is unable to hold us when it becomes heavy. When opening to the wholeness of who we are and life's present and past experiences, the heart of goodness that wishes kindness to ourselves is stronger than we realize. Sitting with a mind that observes the experiences of our life allows us to move beyond discomfort toward a mind of caring reflective awareness.
When we pause and hold our life experiences with a compassionate heart we stretch our nervous system. We might feel anxious reflecting on moments and experiences that are difficult, and painful, or when we may have let ourselves down. Yet, pausing to feel into these sensations allows them to move their energy, in time they move, discharge and change. This is called impermanence. Tightness, tension, heat, tears, and shaking are activated energies of our nervous that allow for discharge. As we sit and watch these energies move from that space of observing and not judging, we allow our nervous system to calm, finding balance and equanimity.
Calm and inner peace occur when we accept our humanness. The harsh mind comes from unresolved pains of the past. It's time we send that part of ourselves a little compassion. Why? Because life has its difficulties. I don't say this lightly, as I too have had to learn from personal experience.
At first, it may seem like too much to notice these feeling tones as the mind believes the branch of life we are sitting on will crack. We will fall off, be injured, and not be able to get back up. Yet, I've learned from personal experiences, the many classes I've taught, and from clients over the years of practice. There is a richness of heart that emerges almost every time we stop pushing away hurts and fears and awaken to compassion toward ourselves with kindness and curiosity. Through reflective awareness that utilizes kindness for our humanness, we stretch our nervous system beyond the capacity we thought it was capable of containing.
Oscar Wilde says it quite well: "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."
This is what leads us toward authenticity.
The Buddha's teachings are a true sense of learning to "relinquish." Which allows us to see we are more than the fears, anguish, and anger we often cling to.