Self-Acceptance
Dear friends,
It's pretty clear that if you are reading this newsletter, you are interested in self-improvement, are trying to be a better person, and want to improve your connection with Spirit. This can create a bit of a challenging situation that I wanted to write about this week.
We all fall short of our ultimate goal (if anyone reading this is in fact fully Realized, please email me immediately... or better, come by East West while I am there!). Now that it has been established that we have not yet reached our goal, how do we go about avoiding discouragement?
Most people avoid discouragement by keeping their vision selective. Most of us, ostrich-like, avoid looking at what needs to be worked on and hope those impediments will go away on their own. Why, otherwise, is it so easy to see everyone else's flaws and foibles and so hard to see our own? Everyone else can see ours… It is not that they are so tiny (good try!).
Self-acceptance is crucial to making real progress in any endeavor in our lives, and especially on the path. I heard something recently that I really like: The fastest way to get where you want to go is to accept where you are. This reminds me of a great joke: The pilot comes on the intercom and says, "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that we are completely lost. The good news is that we are making great time!"
A third grader is expected to make math errors. That's the whole point of school. Hiding the errors from the teacher (or himself) is simply counter-productive. The problem is likely his belief that he is not supposed to make errors, or that making an error somehow makes him less. It only may make him less than what he imagines he "ought" to be (whatever that is).
We are all in school. That is why we incarnated. When we fall short, and can see how we do, the best response is gratitude, for without seeing something how can we change it? When we get something right we can think, “Good. I may have learned what I am supposed to learn enough to do this well.” When we get something wrong we can think, “Good. Now I know exactly what I have to work on to get better.”
Life is an adventure in consciousness. The only bad result is one that gets us to stop trying or has us turn away from the Light. But that is on us. The whole universe is rooting for us to break the right way with an open heart and courage to face what needs to be faced. Are we truly rooting for ourselves?
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West