A theme keeps coming up in my life and in the lives of the clients I work with. I thought I would share it with you.
People are meant to live their life with the circumstances, challenges and specific parameters that are associated with their life. Only full acceptance of this results in an outpouring of energy that elicits change. If a person is battling their situation without acceptance, only misery, conflict and dissonance will occur.
You may not agree with me, but this is my experience of how life works given the situations my clients go through, the teachings of eastern philosophy and my own life.
I work with many people who have bipolar disorder. They share a common complaint about their mood swings: "when I'm manic I enjoy it but I worry about crashing into depression." When they are depressed they are wishing they could be manic. It's an understandable dilemma. After two decades of working with people who have this illness, I've discovered the best way to help them is to encourage full acceptance of their mood fluctuations and help them not react to this. Just accept whatever mood occurs and experience it fully. Respond not react. Cultivate the witness, the inner awareness that is separate from the drama. There is a much better chance the moods will even out, the extremes will diffuse spontaneously. The opposites can reconcile if the resistance is lifted.
An example from my own life is this weight issue. I gained 10-15 unwanted pounds that I could not budge for 4 years. Only recently did I fully accept my body the way it is. I started thinking positively about my new shape and started buying clothes for my new size. Suddenly, I had great energy and motivation to try this new diet plan and start my exercise regime again. I'm finally starting to lose.
This idea is not new. It is based on ancient wisdom from Buddhism and Hinduism, and probably other mystical paths as well. If you want to hear a clear, concise explanation of this philosophy, listen to Alan Watts recordings or videos. He explains it extremely well.
Hope this helps some of you navigate life with more ease.
Have a pleasant evening,
Marilyn
No comments:
Post a Comment