‘Acceptance’ is one of my words for this year. I’m still turning it over in my mind, but initially I am reminding myself that the path towards the end of suffering is non-striving* – letting go of the drive to improve and to attain, to judge and to escape discomfort. If I am able to sit, and invite a gap in the constant busyness, and to rest in that with a kind of confidence, I can practice accepting things as they are (even though there are a few things right now I wish weren’t).
There is a lovely enormous muddle of thoughts to follow from here:
In practice this morning, I was reminded of a poem called ‘The Guest House‘ by Rumi, which feels apt; “welcome and entertain them all” “be grateful for whatever comes”. I’ll sit with it.
* This is the Third Noble Truth. I am by no means a Buddhist scholar, but I can recommend Cutting Though Spiritual Materialism by Chӧgyam Trungpa which was set reading in both the meditation courses I did at The Shambhala Centre in Clapham and as part of my Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Jason Crandell.