MBCT Week 5
This week was all about Acceptance. Sometimes people can struggle with acceptance because it feels like giving up. However acceptance is just about saying “it is what it is” or “Inness” it is not necessarily saying it is OK because something things are just not OK.
What is ACCEPTANCE?
Acceptance is about understanding how things really are. It is not about how you want or desire things to be. Acceptance allows you to become aware of difficulty in all its forms and provides a means for you to respond to this difficulty in the most skilled way possible. In being able to drop into sensations in your body and explore them you are given those vital seconds to enable you to respond.
Acceptance comes in two forms. It involves gently noticing any temptation you may have to push away a difficult or negative thought or feeling. The other component of acceptance is the ability to greet whatever is there with kindness and curiosity. I’ve attached Rumi’s poem The Guesthouse below.
The guesthouse:
“This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.”
The game of Golf!
Remember the game of golf? If not take a listen to this video!
The meditations
Please find below a recording of each of the sessions (not my voice).
The THREE MINUTE BREATHING SPACE
Why we do it!:
This meditation is an absolutely gem especially if you are new to mindfulness practice. Try and practice it at least once a day. It is short sweet and can be done anywhere (even on the loo!). Notice whether you feel different after to before.
Sitting with difficulty
Why we do it!
This mediation is about sitting with something the brings about an uncomfortable feeling in us. It is important because we are so used to pushing stuff away that we don’t want in our lives (aversion). Ironically this pushing away often makes the situation worse (remember WHAT RESISTS PERSISTS).
Why does Mindfulness acceptance work?
Mindfulness acceptance prevents you from engaging in your own autopilot. When you learn to accept your negative thoughts, feelings and their associated bodily sensations you are preventing the minds automatic avoidance mechanisms from being enabled. In your acceptance of what is happening within your mind and body, you are giving yourself time for these emotions and physiological sensations to dissolve.
If you are unable to accept things as they are, your avoidance mechanisms fire up and the chances are you treat what is happening as a real threat. This causes you to engage in ‘Fight or Flight’.
As touched on earlier, acceptance also allows you to become aware of the accuracy of your thoughts. In becoming skilled at recognising how your body is responding to thoughts and feelings you begin to see more clearly that these thoughts and their associated sensations as they increase and reduce in intensity are not you. They are not facts.
Home practice
This week try and listen to the sitting with difficulty meditation once (remember to pick a SMALL difficulty). Also practice the 3 minute breathing space AT LEAST once a day. You won’t regret it. Use the emergency version if you’re in a tricky situation.
Also practice the “Letting go of difficult feelings” exercise I taught you. If you weren’t able to attend I will share this with you next week.