Week #4 Progress Check
Hello friends! How are you doing this week? Hoping you are building your mind control skills and starting to notice yourself feeling a bit lighter, less anxious, and less stressed. If not, continue to be patient.
Remember that you are attempting this not in “ordinary” times. Our present reality is quite disturbing, not at all something that we are simply going to lie down and just accept. . .Or is it? What is our choice? Our present reality IS our reality. Acceptance is the opposite of resistance. It is not the opposite of action. Acceptance is acknowledging without fear and judgment every kernel of the practical and existential, tangible and intangible truth of our present reality. Acceptance does not mean to surrender to something that is within our power to change. Although, my mindfulness guru Eckhart Tolle is not identified with any particular religion, he draws from the wisdom and insights of Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and the Bible. His teachings echo and reflect the wisdom of the Serenity Prayer:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.”
It’s hard for us to accept, but our misery - our anxiety and depression -- is not the product of our present circumstances, it is the product of how we view our present circumstances. Screaming “this is not happening!” is always false. The “this” that you are screaming about is always happening, and saying that you “hate it” doesn’t change it, it only digs you in deeper. These and other exclamations are useless protestations and condemnations by the ego -- that is to say, the mind. Our thoughts of hopelessness and uselessness begets fear and fear begets anxiety and depression. But we are not hopeless or useless. When we climb out of the rabbit hole that we have thunk ourselves into, we can take constructive steps to protect ourselves, to protect our community, and to advocate on behalf of both. But there is a time for thinking, a time for doing, and a time for being. Nothing about your present reality short of death (and even this is a point of debate) denies you the opportunity to be, to find the serenity that lies beneath. . Right. Now.
Be well my friends!