Compassionately Accepting our Experiences

Let’s start this week off with a little self-compassion, shall we?

In any situation, we have the experience of the situation- and then our minds kick in with their INTERPRETATIONS of what just happened. And then they kick in with a judgement of our interpretation. And so on. Our minds produce billions of thoughts all the time, we are constantly thinking- we are just not aware of most of our thoughts.

The interesting thing is, we aren’t even aware of a lot of our CONSCIOUS thoughts because we’re so busy, distracted, or simply take the humming in the background for granted.

And here’s the kicker- often times it’s our judgement ABOUT our experience that makes the whole thing so much worse.

For example- with anxiety, we might be feeling uncomfortable in our bodies because anxiety IS really uncomfortable- but then our minds kick in BERATING ourselves for an already painful experience!

Thoughts like “I shouldn’t feel this way” or “what’s wrong with me” are all too common judgements we have about our painful experiences. And these judgements make the experience more akin to suffering than pain.

But, WHAT IF....

Instead of judging- we moved into a more compassionate place of accepting our experience? Of acknowledging that our feelings are natural? That is - they are human. We’ve all felt them to one degree or another. They ARE part of nature- just like the trees, the wind, abs the rain. THOSE elements are easily embraced as nature- well so are the more internal experiences of our emotions. It’s how we’re built.

Self-acceptance and compassion go a very long way in embracing the darker side of life.

How do these words land on you?

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Leah 💗