Practicing Acceptance
I am having one of those mornings where I just want to crawl up under the covers with my four year old's guitar [read: ukele] and strum out Tracy Chapman tunes in homage to a time in my life when my biggest problem was turtleneck or sweater dress.
Why?
Because there still exists this deeply ingrained notion in me that I must have, or at least appear to have, everything together - perfect home, perfect job, perfect kids, perfect husband... The result of this fruitless pursuit is that I end up exhausted, left with nothing of real value to give to myself or my family. Hence covers over head.
It's day like this that are the real test of how much I have grown or implemented the work of self-transformation. I grab my phone hoping for an escape, but make the mistake of reading My EnneaThought for the day.
"Today, contemplate the meaning of acceptance. Can you accept yourself just as you are, without achieving anything? Experience the peace that acceptance brings."
WTF! (Insert gaping mouth) It's like these people are inside my mind!
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. From the drum of little feet on the carpet it sounds like I have exactly fifteen seconds to let this question permeate down to the inner depths of me.
Can you accept yourself just as you are...? If I am honest, not yet, but I feel comforted by the sense that with each passing day I move one step closer. And the closer I get, the closer I get to finally living.
So today I decide to achieve nothing, and instead give over the morning to little feet and little hands lacing themselves around me like tightly wound Christmas lights. Together we pull the covers up over our heads and imagine that there is no world outside of this precious moment - her, him, me, a holy trinity.
Lindsey T H Jackson is a Life Coach, movement therapist and storyteller. Contact her at www.lindseythjackson.com for inspiration, list of services and bookings.
