We have been taught and encouraged all our lives to strive, to reach our potential beyond where we are now, to be the best we can be, to do more, to be more, to be less - to essentially be different than what we are.

There in, to my mind, lies the seed of our dissatisfaction and stress, which are the foundation of our harried lives. The Christmas Season with all the parties, and deadlines, and ‘todo’ lists, ups anti and we feel like we are playing a losing hand. Christmas will come and go, and again we will have failed to get ‘it’ all done in time.

As we look to 2009, what if…..?

What if instead of planning to:

Grab it and grow,

Aspire to be our best selves

Set goals

Create winning strategizes

Create a life that we love…..

What if we practice accepting and loving our ’self’ just as we are in this moment? Even that ’self’ when it has lots of stories, drama, judgements and disatisfactions. What if we practice holding ourselves in love, just as we are, instead of wanting to be, do or have something we are not experiencing right now?

What if we accept this ’self’ just as we are, even for just one breath? One conscious breath.

I don’t mean do nothing, rather do with love, loyalty, and enthusiasm. Do with an open heart and acceptance of self with all our ’stuff’. Do with non-judgement. Do without labeling good or bad. Act from a place of love instead of place of fear. This centered place has a power, which we humans are just starting to comprehend.

My hypothesis is that self-love and self-acceptance, moment by moment, is the ‘rosetta stone’, the critical key to the translation of the seemingly difficult problem of human happiness. Self-love and self-acceptance appear to melt away the facade self and lets the true amazing self shine through - hence the supposed contradiction, “We are what we seek.”

Accepting ourselves without judgement, just as we are, seems to magically change our road from uphill to downhill as we begin to show up in our lives as our best selves more often.

Experiment. Be a scientist in the laboratory of your life. Practice self-acceptance and love and notice the changes. Changes in how you feel and in how you feel you are treated by others. Notice the changes in your relationships. Notice if you experience more ease, if things seem to flow. Life is change. Change is life. Hold each with love and it changes again. It is subtle. It is not what we think. It is neither more or less. It just is. Start with you. Try this:

When you find yourself - stressed, worried, anxious, frustrated, angry - in traffic, in lineups, with people and things and weather that don’t behave the way you want them to - take a breath. Then acknowledge what is happening. Say to yourself, “Although ____________ is happening and I feel ___________, I truly and deeply love and accept myself just as I am.”

What do you notice?

How is your experience of self different?

What might another breath do?

Love and acceptance. Isn’t this the message of enlightenment? Isn’t this the essence of Christmas?

Love, light and best wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and Loving 2009!

Have a happy, happy day!
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