A Year of Mindful Living September - Acceptance & Resistance

Ever heard the saying, “What we resist persists?” Thought so, which makes our focus this month perfect! Acceptance and Resistance

I have a friend that lives on Spruce Saddle Mountain in Colorado. She has been steadfast and supportive for last the twenty-five years. I visit her every year sometimes more than once and those visits carry me the entire year.

The only catch is she’s a log! Yes, you read that correctly!

I stumbled across her long ago under a grove of evergreens overlooking the Gore Mountain Range in Beaver Creek, Colorado. I was in a very difficult place in my life and I sought solace at the top of the mountain to confront the life, people and things I believed in, valued and was now changing and I was resisting it all.

I’ve cried……bargained, yelled, argued, debated and meditated all while sitting on my log, and she never wavered, not even once! She listened, held and supported me and never turned away. What I did learn spending many hours over the years sitting with her, was my resistance to various situations was what was causing my pain and suffering. I would dump on her all my fury and pain and she just accepted it and held it! Gradually, I learned to let go and leave my pain and suffering with her feeling a little lighter each time. Acceptance became the answer to all my problems. When I’m agitated, it’s because I find some person, place, thing or situation - some reality of my life, unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in the Universe by mistake and until I accepted myself, my situation and my life completely on life’s terms, I wouldn’t be happy. So, now I concentrate not so much on what happens around me as on what needs to shift within me and in my attitude while setting clear boundaries for myself! I guarantee you, on the other side of resistance is the flow! I invite you to decide what is your business, God's business and others' business? When you focus just on your business, it makes it so much easier then to find your flow. And it is so worth it!

Warmly Pam P.S.- I still continue to visit my friend on Spruce Saddle Ridge, except now it is with awe, gratitude and the occasional resisting again!