Day 2: Peace Through ACCEPTANCE

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Welcome to Day 2 of "The Peace Practice"! Today we'll be discussing the power of ACCEPTANCE. But first let me introduce you to her stress-inducing doppelganger, "RESISTANCE".

LESSON #2: RESISTANCE=STRESS & ACCEPTANCE=PEACE

RESISTANCE causes STRESS:

Another major way you feed your stress, is through resisting what is. As humans, we tend to cling to pleasurable experiences and resist uncomfortable ones, forgetting that pain (physical and emotional) is a very natural (and often necessary) part of life and growth. And since there's no escaping pain, your resistance to it only serves to feed your stress.

Quote Pain is inevitable.PNG

ACCEPTANCE creates PEACE:

Stress caused by resistance is healed through ACCEPTANCE and surrender to what is. Avoiding painful emotions or challenging situations with distractions, may help you numb out temporarily, but it won't create lasting peace.

Peace comes when you can:

  • Surrender to exactly where you are on your journey (even while you're working towards change), and
  • Accept the "good" and "bad" equally, trusting that they both play an important part in your life and growth.

TAKE ACTION:

  1. STOP feeding your STRESS HABIT: Begin to notice when you resist an uncomfortable emotion, physical sensation, or a situation in your life. {hint: you'll know because your pain and stress will expand the longer you resist it}
  2. START feeding your PEACE HABIT: One way you can cultivate more peace through acceptance is by beginning to reframe your pain or "problems" as opportunities for growth, learning, and healing. Below there's a 10 minute "acceptance meditation" to get you started.

**A few important notes before you do this meditation:

You gain a lot of power over your life once you start accepting (and non-judgmentally experiencing) the pain you've been resisting (like we began to do in the "acceptance meditation" yesterday). But it's often not an easy path of healing, and it can bring up lots of suppressed and resisted emotions that are ready to be released.

***So if you're dealing with some really painful circumstances in your life (a new break-up, trauma, etc.),

  • Please be sure to give yourself plenty of space and self-care when doing this "acceptance meditation" + any work around acceptance in general. 
  • Take breaks from "doing the work", to allow your mind to rest. You can use the "Breath Meditation" you learned in day 1 for this.
  • And get support if it's too much for you to work through on your own! (feel free to message me and we can talk through this or I can refer someone to you).

Peace, love, and a consistent practice,

Dana

P.S. To connect with others going through this 5 day experience + to get your questions answered by me, join the "Meditate with Ease" Facebook group here!