Radical Acceptance

I’ve spent some time running from reality,

so much so that I am an expert in sugar-coating people and situations in a false attempt to be optimistic, to see the glass as half full, to cast a rosy glow onto a situation that is undeserving of such light.

For a long time, I thought that this was my superpower.

I could see the positive in any situation, person, place, or thing.

It took multiple people telling me that this was, in fact, my flaw for me to stop and see the truth.

Now I understand that this is a delusion that only resulted in stifling my growth and, often, leading me to accept things into my life that did not belong or deserve that precious space.

I’ve also done this with my feelings; particularly the negative ones.

Sadness has been packed away, covered up with false cheer.

Anger, resentment, frustration, disappointment, jealousy all swiftly swept away.

Cleared away like debris and detritus.

These emotions not deemed necessary or worthy in the spectrum of my experience.

To be fair, though, I’ve stifled some of the good emotions and experiences as well, so ruled by fear that I have not let myself fall fully into them, afraid there would be nothing there to catch me.

What struck me today was the importance of radical acceptance, of the ability to accurately see whatever lurks before and within me, and accepting it for what it is.

Of allowing all emotions, thoughts, and experiences space and then consciously, actively, using my discernment to weigh and to evaluate if something is being revealed to me, or if something needs to be released.

Not dressing it up in niceties or false hope; but holding it in my arms, feeling it in my body, moving through it, and letting it go.

Without the ability to accurately see the reality I so desperately grasp and cling, to let myself experience it and move through it, I have no way of being able to unfurl my hold.

If I am unable to do this, the only thing that I am doing is holding myself back from what is waiting for me.

Until I can surrender and accept the situation I find myself, the true nature of the person before me, the gravity of the place, or the instability of the thing –

no matter how much I crave railing out and screaming against it –

I will not be able to move on to the next chapter that’s waiting to be filled.

That chapter that is coming will speak to my body, heart, mind, and soul in a song that’ll make it dance.

I can already hear its melody, and it’s one that comes from the peace of absolute alignment

To usher that in…

say yes to what is, in order to make space for what will be.

I commit to radical acceptance.

In this, I acknowledge and release, in order to create room for what is coming.

Always,

Your Trusted Friend ♥