The Power of Acceptance

I hope you all are doing well. The heaviness in the world has definitely given way to moments of hopelessness in many of us. For myself it usually starts with feeling disconnected from my purpose combined with a feeling of helplessness. From there often judgment takes over. With practice I have learned to see the pattern in myself. It doesn’t mean I can always stop the story from unfolding but I can at times soften the blow and shorten the duration.

What I have found is that the real anecdote to hopelessness and helplessness is ACCEPTANCE. This acceptance helps us release expectations and judgment and frees us to keep transforming into who we really are. This reading from Mark Nepo helps explain this process beautifully and it is what I shared with students on the mat this week.

A Little Fish Story

The instant fish accept that they will never have arms, they grow fins.

I confess I was surprised to wake one day with this knowing about fish. After living with it awhile, I’ve come to feel that it holds another key to faith: that before we can be what we are meant to be, we must accept what we are not. This form of discernment asks us to let go of those grand fantasies that take us out of our nature, that make us work to be famous instead of loving or perfect instead of compassionate.
Yet the instant we can accept what is not in our nature, rather than being distracted by all we think we could or should be, then all of our inner resources are free to transform us into the particular self we are aching to be.
This act of acceptance is a risk that frees us because we can’t find the growth that awaits us until we give up what is against our very nature. It is this surrender, without knowing what will happen next, that allows our lives to truly unfold.

Practicing with this concept on the mat is powerful especially when we pair our practice with what is called the “beginners mind”. This is truly the chance to look at each pose as if it is brand new; without any preconceived expectations or judgments, rather an acceptance of where we are in that pose today. As we practice this not only in the body but in the mind, we find that true antidote to suffering in whatever form we are experiencing it; ACCEPTANCE. Once we do, the burden lifts a bit and our sense of who we are and why we are here becomes that much more clea