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Acceptance vs Boundaries

APRIL WEEK 1

SUNDAY: SPIRITUAL: Surrender to the “Whys” with a “Thank You”

As you write this week I hope you will keep in mind that as we strive to live with acceptance, boundaries must also be taken into consideration. Connect with that place where you end, and where another begins. Sometimes it is hard to see the lines because of the blending, which is good, which is not good, which is neither – it just is.

Accepting that you are a spiritual being with your soul’s purpose being to seek and create positive energy of love is the first step in finding fulfillment in our spiritual aspect of wellness. At times we become frustrated when we have to endure things in life that we do not understand. Today, I hope you can begin to let go of needing to know all of the “whys” and try to live with gratitude, knowing that the rewards will come when the time is right. Accept that God has a grand master plan for you and for generations to come, who will reap the rewards of your choice to live with integrity and continue to walk in faith.

What is weighing on your mind today that is affecting your spirit? Can you let this go and continue to seek and create love with faith?

Please complete this prayer:
Dear God, today with gratitude I surrender to You, in faith, my unanswered question of:

I trust in Your power to take what is wrong and make it right, or take what is right and make it better.

MONDAY: EMOTIONAL: Roots to Fruits

As you journey through this week reflecting on acceptance, I hope you will consider accepting your emotions. Instead of needing to define them as good or bad, see them as tools for guidance or confirmation. Instead of trying to control yours or other’s emotions, learn to just accept them; allow them to speak their wisdom to guide you to where you need to go. Let go of taking responsibility for others’ emotions. In this, we are often led to the root of an emotion, which always began as hope, and allow it to grow in a new direction once again.

Are you able to accept how you are feeling without needing to define it or change it? Do you see your emotions as opportunities for growth, providing you with a new found hope?

When I am feeling a negative emotion, it is easy for me to forget:

When I am happy and feeling positive, it is easy for me to forget:

The acceptance of my various and diverse emotions can create greater acceptance in my entire life by:

Beginning today, when an unexpected emotion arises, I will take a step back and give myself and others grace to:

TUESDAY: ENVIRONMENTAL: Embrace where you are, so that wherever you are, you will be embraced

Accepting our environment with joy means making a choice to see the perfections instead of focusing on the imperfections. There will always be a place that is warmer, cooler, smaller, bigger, or better. The goal is to find true comfort through belonging in whatever place we are in, so that we may know contentment and acceptance wherever we end up, constantly living in a perfect paradise. Home is where we feel we belong; where the colours that surround us blend with the colours that form our essence.

Do you belong where you are today? How can you create a sense of belonging by accept- ing where you are?

I sometimes struggle to feel like I belong when:

I know I belong where I am today because:

I will accept responsibility to find a sense of belonging wherever I am, so that:

Today, I will embrace and accept exactly where I am because:

One practice I can do when I am feeling lost and unaccepted, in order to more fully immerse myself into my surroundings is:

In this, I will always find my own perfect paradise because:

WEDNESDAY: OCCUPATIONAL: Your Perfect Star

Each event, achievement and role embraced becomes a part of who you are, which leads you to where you are meant to go to reach your perfect star. Knowing that there is always a time and a place for growth helps you more readily accept and enjoy what you are doing in the moment, while keeping your eye on where you want to go. Define and accept your role today by doing what is presented to you today. Take in all that is offered in those shiny moments when you are at your best, and use this to guide you to reach for and embrace your perfect star. Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Today, choose to love the job you are doing by accepting that it is a dream from the past which will help you reach a dream yet to transpire.

What does reaching for the stars mean to you? Do you reach for the stars? Are you grasping at many stars, or is there one big shiny one that you know is yours? What would it take for you to get up and do each day in your occupational life that would not feel like work?

The star I long to reach is:

Three stars I have reached that continue to dance around me are:

These have brought me closer to my perfect star by:

As my star awaits, I believe that I still need to learn:

I can do this by accepting:

With my eye on my perfect star and a belief that it is mine, today I will focus more on:

THURSDAY: INTELLECTUAL: Accept Your Passions

When you know and accept your unique passion and begin living this, you instantly become more attentive and open to learn and absorb. Therefore, because life should involve constant learning, make the effort to figure out what ignites your flame of passion, and pursue this to increase your capacity to learn. Although many aspects of our lives are quite universal, our interests and means of creating or sharing our gifts are unique and diverse. You will never create your perfect masterpiece if you do not realize and accept your individuality within the entirety. You will never convince others to accept or encourage you or your passions, or believe in your dreams, until you come to fully accept and believe in them yourself.

What are you most passionate about? What stirs your soul to move or learn or jump? Can you accept your individuality and realize that the world needs your story or your creation? Are you able to accept the diversities in others?

I am passionate about:

I will show my true acceptance of this by:

I am also passionate about:

I will show I believe in this by:

By pursuing my passions, I will be showing how much I care by:

These together can form my dream life of:

Because I know, accept, and believe what I am passionate about, today I will set forth to expand my knowledge of:

FRIDAY: SOCIAL: Acceptance vs Codependence

Acceptance is what we are all looking for in a friend. Acceptance is empowering. True friendships also have respectful boundaries—so that one never falls backwards when the other stumbles with the ups and downs in life; but together find the strength to impel with wings ready to fly—just because someone believes we can. They say that misery loves company, but so does joy. Strive to be your best each day and to fully accept and believe in your friends for who they are, in order to become and have the best friends a person can find.

In what relationship do you not feel accepted? How does this make you feel? What is one relationship where you found or find it difficult to accept the other? How does it make you feel? Do you think this relationship can be sustained?

I long to be fully accepted by:

I do not feel accepted for my:

I believe this has held me back by:

If I let go of my need to be accepted in this way, I feel I could:

SATURDAY: PHYSICAL

The final (and only) act of healing is to accept that there is nothing wrong with you. –Robert Holden, PhD

Your marks and scars and aches and spots and pounds are part of the map that illustrates your journey and makes you who you are today. Even though you may find them hard to look at, accept them as medals of honour that have been etched into your body, never to be forgotten. Even the acceptance of an illness or injury, even if you are fighting to heal or recover, is a sign that you are alive, and that you have lived. Showing acceptance for your body is setting the example for others to also accept theirs. Let learning to fully embrace our- selves and all that comes with living be part of the final act of healing.

Can you look in the mirror and truly say it is good, no matter how many little flaws you might see? Can you appreciate that all of those “flaws” are proof that you have lived, and accept them as badges of honour?

Each day, I want to look in the mirror and feel:

To do this, I must accept my:

And allow myself time to:

And be proud that I:

From now on, I will stop hiding my:

Starting today, when I feel the urge to pick apart my body in some way, instead I will use positive affirmations to celebrate that I have lived by:

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A New Place and Thyme

There are many ways to reach or attain a goal, choosing the path that will bring you the most joy in the process is what true living is all about. If the end result is going to be the same, it is in how you get there that will really count. So decide what seeds you are going to plant by visualizing your endgame, be sure what you are planting can withstand your potential elements and know that when they do fully bloom you may in a new place and time (or in my case thyme), and live.

No matter what your dream is, it is sure to require patience. The greatest gifts are those that transpire everywhere else in your life once your hardy seeds are planted.

A few years ago I learned this first-hand when I had the option of either waiting two months for a company to re-sod a patch of lawn or plant seeds. Of course I was too impatient to wait for re-sodding so I planted seeds. I waited in excited anticipation each day as I watered and literally watched the grass grow, which took longer than two months. This analogy could pretty much sum up my entire life. Once you plant your seeds, do your part in keeping them nurtured, have gratitude for the elements of assistance and adversity, and let the growth itself bring you joy and fill you up so that you can take that into other areas of your life.

One day you will have a full garden or field. Even after you thought your seeds were fully grown, you see them start to spread and pop up everywhere you turn.

We are constantly reaching goals and becoming our dreams.

This spring, as I look out my back window at the amazing view, in a new place, I have a problem. My dog, Favre, has completely destroyed the lawn. It’s not his fault, he has nowhere else to go and it is a much smaller area that he had in his old home. I refuse to plant grass seeds or even re-sod this time because I know it will be futile. I am looking for fruitful.

I have a plan. I am going to plant and seed creeping thyme in the entire area, which is supposed to withstand many elements – including dog urine. I am aware of the potential negatives such as that it may attract bees, and that in my location the exposure to wind and cold my make it difficult. But thyme is safe for pets, I don’t have flowerbeds, so I don’t have to worry about over-creeping – and my friend tells me they are relentlessly creepy.

Again the analogy: it is time to plant new and different seeds.

We are constantly reaching goals and becoming our dreams. Believe it or not, today you are is exactly what you always dreamt you would be. Accept that person who is on just as much of a journey of growth as everybody else; a journey and the arrival at the many stops along the way that have transpired in ways that we don’t fully realize. Yet, at one time, the seed was planted.

While it is good that we are attaining, the downside is that we forget to celebrate because suddenly we are “there” and with that comes a whole new level of stress and worry. It also provides opportunity to plant new seeds of dreams.

Just for today, will you take a moment to celebrate your accomplishments. Look at how you have grown spiritually, without even really realizing it. Look at your children and see how they have grown into that person you always dreamed they would be or your companions and how the new friendships have become the most cherished old friends. Look at your home, what you have accomplished at work, what you have learned, book-wise or world-wise, and see the growth. See the way you have been able to, perhaps not control all emotions, but how you acknowledge, realize and embrace them to lead you to your best days.

As you look out at your life today, notice what has flourished and what is no longer working and then decide if it is time to plant some new or different seeds, looking ahead to a new place and thyme.

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RESPECT: Become the Glass

During yoga teacher training Yogis are taught the Yamas and Niyams: the ten ethical practices or rules of right-living that are derived from Hinduism. These, amongst other gifts offer an opportunity to live with respect. Respect for yourself, others and the Greater plan.

Respect in our spiritual aspect of wellness comes naturally when we follow these practices, which are somewhat parallel to The Ten Commandments that are taught in Christianity and Judaism; varied, yet similar, teachings are taught in each religion.  Buddism has The Five Precepts.

Often, when we do wrong we know it in our being – we don’t require a rule to tell us something is not right.  Yet, life presents many circumstances where were are forced to choose between the greater of goods and the lesser of evils.  Thus leaving hearts torn and spirits worn when we lack understanding. 

Discord is an invitation to be still and allow the warmth of light to melt the beauty of the frost in due time.

When what is before you is frosty and unclear and you are unsure of what lies beyond, be still and practice Asteya: non-stealing of yourself, others and Spirit, and allow the warmth of the request of faithful understanding and forgiveness work naturally, rather than with the heat of strained and unnecessary efforts trying to scrape away your frosted glass tying to clean your own slate.

Spring is a time for new beginnings, which is a good time to allow your slate to be melted clean. This way, complete forgiveness permeates through all, like the melted water seeping through the earth.

During my own yoga teacher training, each of my meditations ended in the visualization of frosted glass, with the words in my head to “become the glass.” Today, six months later, I saw the beautiful frosted glass – and had no desire to scrape it off because I knew the sun would eventually melt it away.

Discord is an invitation to be still and allow the warmth of light to melt the beauty of the frost in due time.  Namaste

From The Seven Seeds 

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