acceptance
I’ve started reading Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now again, and while I’m only fifty pages or so in, I’m really excited as it is already hitting different this time through—it makes me think about the second time I read The Alchemist; long time readers and listeners of the podcast know how important that book is to me.
I was reading last night before bed, and this morning, when I woke up, this quote continued to sit on my mind,
“Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”
In a recent podcast episode where I discussed with two friends the idea of whether or not trauma is necessary to reach higher levels of personal growth or consciousness, I shared that I cannot look at my life and see the intense trauma that so many people have experienced; my experiences that I’d classify as “traumatic,” I do believe could have spiraled to become bigger and more severe had I allowed them to. But, as I shared in the conversation, my immediate response has always been to feel the emotion, process it, and move forward focusing on any positive I can find to return to a frequency of positive charge so no more negative comes my way.
I never realized it before, but acceptance has been what has helped me contain the experiences in my life and prevent them from becoming greater traumas and changing how I see the world. Sidenote: As I process this while I’m writing, I wonder if I need to be more conscious of acceptance of the positive experiences in life. I need to give this more thought…
A little later in the book, Eckhart introduces the idea of the pain-body, an energy force within us that feeds on pain—think past trauma, fears, etc. Many people are completely under the influence of their pain-body, and they aren’t even aware of it.
I remember reading about the pain-body in previous passes through the book, but it never really connected. As I alluded to earlier, this time, the book is connecting, and light bulbs are going off.
“So the pain-body, when it has taken over, will create a situation in your life that reflects back its own energy frequency for it to feed on. Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.”
This sounds like an explanation of the law of attraction, and if I connect it back to the first quote I shared, I have a new understanding that I’ve realized in the last twelve hours.
Acceptance of what you are currently experiencing is an important step to keeping your pain-body from taking over, especially in painful experiences–it’s important to mention that “painful experiences” are relative.
The next time you experience something that is not what you want, instead of allowing your pain-body to take over by focusing on negative thoughts, emotions, or even actions, try accepting what has happened, as it’s already occurred, and you can’t change it anyway, and find how you can move forward without your pain-body’s influence.
It may not be easy at first, but I believe it will become easier with practice. Life will give us all plenty of chances to practice—sitting in traffic, someone saying something hurtful, not closing a sale, etc. Build up your resistance to your pain-body with minor experiences, so if you have a major one, your default action is to accept.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
