This post is written in response to Donnie’s comment on my previous post A Closer Look at Awareness…

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Donnie… he writes very interesting (and occasionally haunting) poetry at DreadedSix.blogspot.com… take a look!

The main point I will be emphasizing here… is acceptance.

This actually goes along very well with the other post… because the other aspect of cultivating consciousness (aside from building awareness)… is cultivating acceptance.

We must learn to open up and Accept!

But How?

Like most learned behaviors… we must practice!

Donnie Wrote:

to achieve awareness properly it seems that what ails us from the past must be somewhat negated.

I can assure you… no negation is necessary.  I still remember what I used to call “the most horrible experiences of my life”.  Now they are just memories.

They are merely lessons…

Letting go of emotional content is necessary.  Relaxing back into peaceful acceptance of the magnificence of you is necessary.  Negation isn’t.

You’ve had your experiences.  No one can deny that.  Nothing short of brain damage can erase that.  But the emotional charge around it can be ‘negated’… but is is actually just simple allowing that allows you to accept and balance out that charge.

what if it’s too frickin real and acts like an uncontrolable rollercoaster.

There are two levels of ‘real’.

My good friend Tamo speaks of them in his post, The Principle of the Two Truths… I will discuss them extensively in future posts/products.

But here is a short version.

There is the level of absolute Truth… we might describe it as Love, Bliss, Pure Being, Nirvana, Energy Oneness, God, Goddess, Allah, Higher Intelligence, etc.

However we attempt to describe it… our description is eternally inadequate… there is only the experience… in the ever present now.

The second level of truth is relative truth.  The vast majority of what we discuss is relative truth.  There is value in relative truth… but it is nothing compared to absolute Truth.

I mean in no way to discredit your experience.

But I see in your writing that you have experienced something more…

I only wish to draw your attention back to that level of Real.

If you can touch real Truth… everything else begins to shine in a new light.

partial glimpses of peace are a treasure I know,

They are.  Be sure to treasure them.

Enjoy.

Gratitude is a powerful thing.

but the cold reality of pain is a hard task to overcome.

It certainly can be.  I will cover a couple of techniques in this post to give you a powerful start on your path of releasing pain.

I know you have an answer, but how do I start?

I’ll cover techniques in a moment, but first let me quote some of your poetry:

Absent, but somehow there

Absolutely

(For all my other readers, this is from one of Donnie’s poems called Rumi)

This reminds me of the all abiding state just beyond letting go…

Keep in mind, the very thing that you think defines you…

The one thing that you have to have…

The part of you that you aren’t even consciously aware of…

This is what you will have to release!

At least for a little bit… all your old identifications are still there waiting for you should you choose to pick them up again…

But when you release it… in its absence… you will truly recognize the absolute!

To be honest with you, though, “I” don’t have any answers.  The ultimate answer is the one that every great teacher has had… Krishna, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Christ, etc.

All is one!

When you experience that… all else falls into proper perspective.

Without that… we are all amateurs.

But this amateur does know a few worldly tricks for accepting pain… 

Acceptance Technique #1:  Simple Mental Relaxation

This one is easy.

Whenever the pain arises, just say “OK”, or “that’s alright”, or even “Thank you!”

Do that for as long as you can… if you need to, practice some deep breathing or any other physical relaxation exercise along with it.

With more challenging physical pain or emotional pain… just allow a little of the sensation in… breathe and accept it, and then gradually open up to more, while you continue to breathe, relax, and allow.

Notice that the more you do this… the more it becomes your habit!

Eventually, you might completely forget how painful those memories once were…

You might have to come back and re-read this post just to get a vague notion 

Acceptance Technique #2:  EFT Tapping for Emotional Mastery

Just to summarize:

1. Breathe deeply, relax, and smile throughout the entire process (as much as possible)
2. Focus on the sensations in the body associated with the challenging emotion
3. Think of the sensations you would like to have instead
4. Create a ‘setup phrase’ in the form of “Even though I have this (name unwanted body sensation), I choose to experience (name the body sensations you would like to have)”
5. Repeat this ‘setup phrase’ 3 times while rubbing the sore spot on the right side
6. Repeat this ‘setup phrase’ 3 times while rubbing the sore spot on the left side
7. Repeat this 3 times while doing figure 8′s
8. Repeat this 3 times while doing the ‘Hook Up’

My impression is that the ultimate cure for ‘emotional challenges’ is recognizing the totality of your True Nature… but while we’re allowing ourselves to open up to that True Nature… it’s good to have a few techniques to help us along the way…

I hope this is helpful, Brother.

Let me know!

keep smiling,

Ben

P.S.  The final post in the 101 Proven Tips for Powerful Meditation series will be up Friday (9-4-09).

Tags: acceptance, Consciousness, cultivating, EFT, emotional mastery, tapping