Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going to talk

about the hidden power of acceptance.

So I want to start by sharing a quote.

"Deep acceptance of another

person is often the doorway to

deep acceptance of ourselves.

Since so much of what we resent in

other people is a reflection of what

we've disowned in ourselves, meeting

another person with curiosity, compassion

and love is an essential component in

our journey toward becoming whole."

It's a powerful practice to notice

how others trigger you and then to

ask yourself, what about this person

have I committed to not becoming?

Why?

Where does that internal

agreement stem from?

Do I fear deep down that I have

the potential to be similar?

Have I been similar to this person

in the past, but experience a loss

of safety and love because of it?

I'm not a huge fan of the spiritual trope

that says we're all mirrors for each

other, because I think it can be used to

pathologize one's intuition that something

is off in another person or situation.

For example, you know, if we are

triggered, there must be something

in us that's unintegrated.

I don't really like going into that.

To me, that's dangerous territory.

But we also don't need to throw

out the baby with the bath water.

Our experience of others can,

and often is, a mirror for

our experience of ourselves.

We just need to be able

to hold the nuance.

So acceptance is not endorsement.

You can seek to understand why a person

is the way they are and see the seeds

of that behavior in yourself while still

holding boundaries toward their behavior.

There's a big difference between casting

a part of yourself into the shadows and

then projecting the hate you hold toward

that part on anyone who expresses it

versus holding that part of yourself

with compassion and presence, which

would be integration, and voicing

your concern about how its expression

in other people might be causing

harm, to you, others or the planet.

So this is just one of the big issues

that I, I sometimes see with cancel

culture, which is often, there can

be a refusal of people to also look

at how that which they condemn in

others may also exist in themselves.

So I do believe we would get further

in our quest for connection, empathy,

and harmony if more of us took the

time to reflect on where the seeds

of the behavior we condemn in other

people may also exist in ourselves

rather than impulsively othering

people because of our projections.

So something to think about

on your mindfulness journey.

Let's settle in for today's meditation.