Day 3 – Acceptance

7 days of presence | a course in inner peace

Day 3 is all about seeing beyond your mind-made meanings. Things and situations have only the meanings you have given them. These meanings are your self-made prison—your personal perception of the world—in which you also seek to chain other people. This kind of mind is not a natural talent in acceptance. The lack of acceptance is the root of inner conflicts and the absence of inner peace.

A mind full of meanings is incapable of true acceptance. Give non-judgmental attention to things, situations, and other people. Remind yourself that nothing you experience means anything. You need to become aware of the illusory nature of your own meanings. A mind burdened with meanings can find only frustratingly limited acceptance—accepting its own knowledge only. When your thoughts burden you, others are burdened by your thoughts also. When your meanings fade away, acceptance emerges spontaneously. True acceptance is unlimited and unleashed. Let it roam free in the world around you.

Acceptance is the portal to gratitude and contentment. The human mind is driven toward finding happiness and escaping from suffering. Happiness is fleeting and illusory by nature—your efforts to find lasting happiness usually push it away from you. Cultivating acceptance of the present moment gravitates feelings of gratitude and contentment toward you. As their result, an experience called happiness will emerge by itself, just like the clarity of the morning follows the darkness of the night.

your guidance today

Remind yourself that nothing means anything.

Things do not have the names or qualities you imagine them to have. Don't label things. Don't interfere with your natural perception. Let everything be just as it is. For example, do not force your perception of a flower into the concept of a flower. A bird is not a bird until you name it a bird. All your ideas about things are preconceived and tell nothing of the real value of those things.

Remind yourself that nothing that other people are, say, or do means anything.

People do not have the attributes and characteristics you imagine them to have. Stop imposing your meanings on other people. Accept them just as they are. Don't try to change them. Don't treat them as means to an end. Don't hold them responsible for your own feelings. In reality, other people are not responsible for your thoughts and feelings. Your opinions about them tell nothing about them, but only about you.

Remind yourself that situations do not mean anything.

Situations do not have the explanations, causes, and consequences you imagine them to have. Accept all situations and happenings as they come. This doesn't mean you cannot do anything about them. Just refrain from instantly reacting to situations. Stop to observe and contemplate them in silence. Find a way to accept everything—both your pleasures and sufferings. Act only from a place of total acceptance.

Observe what arises in you when nothing means anything.

Be aware of yourself whenever you impose meanings on things, people, and situations. Those meanings do not tell anything about them—you are the one bearing those ideas. Find out the personal investment hidden in your meanings. Peace, unconditional acceptance, and gratefulness are the most ordinary experiences when you don't impose self- made meanings on the world. Don't just trust these words for it, but observe your own experience.

Acceptance day affirmation