Living the Zen Life

Acceptance is

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Acceptance is

 
“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”
—Nathaniel Branden
 

Y

ou are not at war with the mind. The mind is not something to be “shut off.” The thing that is at war with the mind is your problem. You identify with this illusion because you can. It carries you along for the ride like a hijacked passenger.

You’re not learning how the voices in your head work so you can do something about them. You’re not fighting to get rid of them. You’re not in a battle to convert them into positive ones. You’re also not turning away from them and burying your head in the sand.

What you are learning is this: Your relationship with the voices is what keeps them real.

You’re not leaving goals, hard work, self-sacrifice, busyness, and hustle in exchange for peace, bliss, ease, relaxation, and fun. Those are two sides of a duality that bind you to the world of the conditional. The voices would love to have you swing back-and-forth from wrong to right and good to bad, so you believe that your well being is dependant on circumstances. As long as you assume one is preferable – you’re lost.

So you stay at war. You are fooled by the hard work to change or the passive resignation of quietism. Both miss the mark.

Acceptance is an end to all of that. Acceptance is awareness. It is not analysis. Awareness sits and observes all that arises regardless of what arises. It really doesn’t matter what you see. It’s that you see.

In seeing, acceptance is. And with acceptance, freedom.
 

In lovingkindness,


If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume One).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Two).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Three).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons by Alex Mill.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Meditation and Reinventing Yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, The Zen Life: Spiritual Training for Modern Times.

 


  Alex Mill trained in a Zen Buddhist monastery for nearly 14 years. He now offers his extensive experience to transform people’s lives and businesses through timeless Zen principles.

He is the creator of three powerful 30-day programs, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, Help Yourself to Change, and Your Practice, as well as the online Zen meditation workshop, Taming Your Inner Noise (now offered as The FREE Zen Workshop).

Alex has also written seven books on Zen awareness practice. The latest are entitled A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons (Get it for FREE here) and the 3-book series Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness.

He is a full-time Zen Life Coach who offers guidance and life-changing support to his private clients worldwide. Book a call.


 

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