Shifting From Annoyance to Acceptance

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about how we can shift from a state of annoyance to peace of mind and acceptance. So in life, all kinds of things happen that we don't like or want. So they're all these little things that can kind of rub us up the wrong way. Like a traffic jam, a loud noise, a person who won't stop talking.

We can become annoyed with the weather, with our partners, with our inability to get everything done. Or in my case, it's technology, that really seems to wind me up. My friends actually say that I'm like a grandma with technology. It always seems to be that I'm having troubles with it. So while it's perfectly normal to get initially a little bit disappointed or agitated in certain situations, we can create for ourselves a lot more frustration, anger, and bitterness by how we react when things don't go the way we hoped or planned.

So when we internally resist or struggle with what's happening, we get annoyed. Resistance to what is usually has a basic storyline or orientation in the mind that says no to what's happening. Usually we're saying to ourselves, some version of a story that says, this shouldn't be happening, I don't like this, or I don't want this. Now there's all kinds of, those are kind of the underlying structure of the thoughts, but there's all kinds of versions of this story. Like, this traffic is ridiculous.

I hate how this person talks so loud. Why are they jackhammering today? Underneath all of these sentences is a basic sentiment of, I don't like this, I don't want this, it shouldn't be happening. Now, although we may not always be able to control or change a situation, mindfulness shows us that we can always learn to let go of the resistance and therefore the annoyance. The truth is, unpleasant or unwanted things are always going to arise in the flow of our lives from time to time. We can't change it, but we do have this ability to change our response to those things.

And we don't want to go through our lives, always feeling so reactive, stressed, and annoyed. So if we can drop the resistance to what's happening, drop the stories that say, I don't want this, this shouldn't be happening and we can simply accept each situation the way it is, then we find more peace within. So the very essence of mindfulness is a kindly acceptance of the present moment. So in a moment of acceptance, we're letting go of always trying to control everything, fix everything, change, everything, manipulate everything to be how we want it. And instead we're just letting things be.

So today, if you notice annoyance arising, see if you can acknowledge it, let go of any unhelpful stories in the mind, and make the shift from annoyance to acceptance. So as always thank you for your practice and your presence here. And now let's settle in for today's meditation.