Radical Acceptance (3 )

As I continue connecting to the melody and notes of my own symphony (see Radical Acceptance (2) previous post) I am embracing creativity and imagination as part of my ensemble. I have always been a watcher of clouds and their formation. I have used my imagination to create stories from their structure and shapes from the earliest years in memory. To this day, I love laying on my hammock on a beautiful cloud filled summer day, imagining the dragons and the music that comes alive. I believe my imagination and creativity has influenced and continues to influence so many facets of my life. Has allowed me to

dance and play and learn to live through the lens of love.

Learning to live through the lens of love has been a journey of learning how to be present with the dissonance in my musical pieces. A journey of teasing out suffering and learning how to shift that into clarity, pointing to my pain. Sometimes I imagine the trumpet playing the last post (see resources) signifying the pain point and asking for release at the end, so I don't continue to suffer.

As I work through the many processes of learning to love and radically accept myself, I have been blessed with support in my creative endeavours. In my early years, I worked with a mindful meditation recording to address my deep feelings of contamination. Imagination and creativity were part of that experience. Here is one way I danced to the music of creativity and imagination to alleviate my suffering.

I love kayaking. I love all the boats that have been and continue to be part of my life.

However, my first boat, my beautiful red Pungo was the inspiration for this healing

opportunity. As part of the mindful meditation developed by my therapist I engaged

my boat to shift my suffering, understanding my pain. In my journey, I

imagined being able to kayak through the waters of my internal pain and

suffering. My boat was fitted with tubes that connect to my being and had an exit into

the water. As I allowed my body to experience the depth of my contamination, I

permitted it to leave my body through the tubes and enter the river of purification. Can

you imagine the music that would go with such a scene? For me, the final releases of

that contamination, was shifted by the music of Heather Bishop and her beautiful song

"Yes to Life." It was the beginning.....of a new learning curve.

For the most part, for the last number of years I have been free from the suffering that came with feeling contaminated.

It does come up from time to time. Like when I first began the mirror work. However, when it appeared I was quickly able to be present and release, so my pain did not turn into suffering. The beauty is allowing its presence and not being my present.

I had an experience this week where I hit a pain point. I witness the numerous choice points in my life and the backstory to the choices I made. How early experiences shapes how our lives move forward. I began to address this pain using my imagination and creativity. I allowed all I was experiencing on the inside to dance on a black and white television and witness my thoughts, feelings, sensations.

Allowing emotional distance from the experience. I listened to the musical patterns created by all the various experiences, and I began to feel things differently. When I added music by Shaina Noll - How Could Anyone (see resources) to my mirror work and I allow the words and music to soothe my soul, I felt alive....

and recommitted to living my best life. I am learning so many skills to navigate the world of pain and suffering. Understanding that pain is information. We need to listen to our pain points and be mindful of our response to our pain. It is our response to the pain that often leads to suffering and takes us away from living our values. I am embracing Choice.

In my WW (weight watcher's) journey this past week, we were talking about how to deal with setbacks without blaming ourselves. Blaming ourselves and being critical are pieces of suffering. The technique that we explored was noticing a setback and rewinding our tape to explore all the things that got in the way of not following through. Noticing thoughts, feelings, and our environment. Recognizing the friction that gets in the way of following through on our journey. We were asked to be a detective looking to the what, why and how's. Then we were asked to edit the story we created about the setback by imagining what could have helped shift the friction and change the outcome. Finally we were asked to have a plan moving forward to shift the dynamics of a future similar situation. A great technique offering perspective taking on an event that has taken place. A technique of zooming out and seeing the larger picture of our world rather than the up close and often skewed picture of blaming ourselves, leading to our self criticism.

One of the gifts of this technique is that it set in motion my ability to use my imagination and creativity to take this technique and turn it on its head. I fast forwarded my tape in a moment of pain and asked myself.....if I eat all the chocolate and candy in my possession, how will I feel tomorrow. I was able to stop any suffering by choosing to live my values in that moment. Choosing to keep to my fasting and choosing to live my best life.

I am on a journey. A beautiful, wonderful excursion of living the best life I can through the lens of love. It is often a painful journey. However, I am learning to accept all the experiences offered to me as opportunities to learn and be free. I am making choices to embrace all the painful moments mixing them with all the beautiful moments. They all make up my symphony. I am living the life I want to live allowing the music of my life to guide me in self-love, self-acceptance, and freedom. I am acting each day to live in line with my values. I know that ......

I am embracing

Powerful

Strong

Creative

Imaginative

Caring

Loved and love

May you be present, be mindful, love and be free to be who you are!

Resources:

Royal Australian Air Force: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McCDWYgVyps

Heather Bishop: Yes to Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLnEMf26Ab0

Shaina Noll - How Could Anyone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF7yFOlOk9M