Hello all,
I am just re-entering reality after an amazing meditation retreat weekend where myself and about 25 others (both online and in person) rested, got curious about acceptance, and of course- meditated! It was such a gift to be able to spend this time away, especially during such a busy time of year.
I want to share with you some wonderful nuggets about Acceptance from Dr. Paul’s lectures at the retreat:
- We don’t accept the unacceptable… we transcend it and move to a place of seeing a higher harmony and design. (Ok, that’s all well and good Sarah, but HOW!?)
- The foundation for cultivating Acceptance is two fold– it is both the expansion of our awareness, via Meditation, and the integration of this new awareness using tools like the Heart Centering technique. For those of you who have trained in meditation recently with me, you learned this technique during your training. For those who trained with me more than a year ago, you have not! If you haven’t learned it or want a refresher, I highly encourage you to attend one of the Community Forums I have coming up so you can learn this wonderful integration tool!
- Acceptance is something that happens spontaneously as we come to live from the heart…you don’t force it, because this isn’t something that can be forced. A 5 year old does not get the maturity of a 25 year old by acting like a 25 year old; they get it by growing and evolving.
- As we cultivate the heart, we discover a sense of peace that makes it far easier to be in a world where there is much happening that we don’t like. Rather than our energy being poured into resisting that which we don’t like, we use it to take action and effect change.
- If the foundation for acceptance is inner peace- what then is Radical Acceptance? Radical Acceptance is when we come to the full integration of that inner peace; it is when we come to the insight that there is a higher order and that everything in life is happening FOR me.
So to sum up… we first must cultivate awareness of our resistance to something (our inability to accept it), so that we can then integrate the expansion of peacefulness within our heart to the point that we outgrow the original resistance. Once we are able to do this effortlessly, there is really nothing we aren’t able to overcome, and no need to suffer. Instead, we simply acknowledge, accept, and transcend. I’m still processing a lot of what I discovered as I investigated my own relationship with acceptance, but as always after one of these retreats, my commitment to meditation is renewed and my love for exploring the facets of the heart reinvigorated.
Another positive from the retreat is that I was able to receive some feedback about how I set up the three courses I am running in the New Year. As much as I love the idea of having the courses be inextricably linked to a meditation retreat (because I know the power of these retreats!), I now realize that may make it impossible for some of you to take the course when you otherwise would have. My intent and hope is to help as many people as possible learn about the facets of the heart and experience the tremendous growth that comes from exploring them. When you come right down to it, the retreat is a bonus, not a requirement. Therefore, I have just completely reworked the course dates and investments so that they can be a standalone experience. Because of this, I have also changed the deadlines associated with signing up for the retreats and the courses- so if you looked before, please go back to check out the revised versions. The most immediate ones to note are:
- December 20th is the last day to early register for the January retreat focusing on the The Extraordinary Joy Within– receive $20 off the three day retreat and $50 off the five day if you register by this date
- January 1st is the last day to early register for all three courses and receive 20% off the investment for all three- a savings of $290! It is also the last day to register for the January retreat
- January 8th is the last day to early register for the Where’s the Bliss? course and receive $50 off
Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and I encourage you to ask “What am I resisting?”, which will give you a great place to start working on Acceptance!
Love&Light,
Sarah
