Radical Acceptance
Psychologist and Buddhist scholar Tara Brach writes in her book, (Radical Acceptance) “Just as the Buddha willingly opened himself up to an encounter with Mara, we too can pause and make ourselves available to whatever life is offering us in each moment”. Feel free to look up Buddha and Mara! Most people, including high performing individuals, operate from a place of fear. Fear of failure, fear of not being loved, fear of not succeeding at a task, fear of being judged, etc. A lot of you reading this continually struggle with comparing yourself to previous versions of yourself. This comparison leaves you feeling hopeless. You “know” you can never get back to that 20 year old self, so you self sabotage by not giving a genuine effort. How do you get past this?
It starts with radical acceptance. Accept where you are. Accept life is different. Accept you wanted the life you have, but may not have taken all the other factors into consideration. Accept you have not taken care of yourself like you desired, and ended up putting everyone else first out of some sort of self imposed obligation. Accept it doesn’t have to stay this way. Accept that small improvements are better than no improvements. Accept this is your reality now and you can do something to change the trajectory of your future.
Studies show that fear can be a good short term motivator, but it is poor in the long run. I’ve spoken about this several times before - focus on the process, not the goal. Instead of focusing on changing your body, focus on changing your lifestyle. This is the only long term way to get anywhere. A lot of high performing individuals aren’t happy. Happiness is accepting reality and subtracting expectations. Are you ready to accept reality? Are you ready to let go of expectations and feel the happiness that comes with embracing the moment? Are you ready to have conversations with yourself like you would have with a friend you value? Are you ready to become friends with you again?
Some of you may think the things I’ve been posting about lately are woo woo! I am beginning to feel like the people who came up with woo woo are the people that don’t believe they can actually be happy. They don’t believe how our mindset screws our body’s ability to function optimally. I’ve also talked about becoming an observer of your life. We often get stuck in allowing our emotions and experiences to define us. That definition keeps us in a cage of identity. I had the pleasure of speaking with Amanda Thebe today (check her out www.amandathebe.com) and we discussed menopause, but more so, her experience with it. She brought up the 2 things she did that really created a new trajectory for her life. I made sure, when we were done recording, to let her know they are the first 2 steps in the Inside Out Program. Those 2 steps were: finding her strengths and discovering her values. This confirmed in me the importance of what I’m trying to create.
What will be happening in the Inside Out program will explore all of this, but it’s not a woo woo program. We will investigate and put into action. It’s not just some psychology project. The body needs to be taken care of. It is part of the Hierarchy of Needs. You’ve heard about that before! You probably learned about it in Health class, but ignored it and said you learned nothing (teachers know what I’m talking about!). You will experience a new you that thrives in the process, but you have to be willing to do work. It’s crazy to think the kind of work we are willing to do for a grade or for a boss, but neglect the work we can be doing for ourselves! I’m excited for you and to be a part of this journey, if you you are willing.
Hit the link to get early access and information for this program. It will be capped at a certain number, and will be heavily discounted since it is the first round of this. Let’s work together on this.
