Acceptance: The Greatest Act of Love

One of the greatest acts of love we can extend to another is to fully accept them right where they are, in their journey. This means accepting the light they’re expressing as well as any aspect of ego they’re expressing.

Not. easy.

Yet worth endeavoring to do so…especially since the ability (or inability) to accept another is indicative of where we are in our own inner growth.                                

The more inner work we’ve done to heal our ego-mind, the easier it becomes to accept another. This, of course, means the opposite is true, as well.

When we see through the lens of our own ego, we give someone else’s ego the power to emotionally affect us. This immediately takes us out of a state of pure acceptance (love) and sets us up to resist the other person’s ego to the degree that it negatively affects us.

A further break down of what’s happening…

When we’re personally identified with our own ego, we set ourselves up to be personally offended by someone else’s ego.

This positions us to blame another for how we feel…

“Can you believe what so and so did? Ugh, I’m so p*ssed right now!”

Yep, we’ve all been here. Justifiably, right?

Unfortunately, when it comes to doing our inner work, justifying any aspect of ego is doing a disservice to our inner growth, since it gives ego a resting place.

There’s only one thing we can do to begin turning this situation around: we must take full personal responsibility for our own ego, which means no longer blaming another for how we feel.

If we want to fully get out from under ego’s influence, we must be relentless in this effort.

The truth is no one can make us feel any particular way; it’s our interpretation of the situation that creates the feelings we feel. When we interpret the world (people, situations + events) through our ego, we’re under the (false) impression that these outside factors cause us to feel a certain way.

Ego leads us to believe we’re a victim to our own perception by blinding us to the fact that we’re the source of that perception. (Take a moment, to re-read this sentence and really let it sink in, because it’s a pretty big a-ha. Okay, now continue ;))…

The only way to change this is to take responsibility for being the source of our perception. We must own the emotions that we’re experiencing as the result of how we’re (unconsciously) choosing to interpret the events concerning a particular person or situation.

In owning our emotions, we own the source of our perception…we own that which gave rise to how we interpreted the situation. This is how we break the inclination to blame another for how we feel.

When we become personally offended by another, it’s because we’re projecting an ego-based perception onto them. Some aspect of our ego is being reflected back to us through whatever caused us to become offended.

A personal example to further illustrate…

I’m not a fan of being corrected by others (especially when done by someone habitually). Typically when this happens, I resist accepting it by becoming frustrated. I, then, blame that person for causing me to feel frustrated.

In actuality, I interpreted someone’s “suggestion” through my ego-mind as being critical, which served as an emotional trigger for me to feel offended and frustrated.

My inner work is to see and own that I interpreted the situation through my ego-mind, so that I can begin to heal that particular perception.

When seen through a healed mind, the person’s “suggestion” is no longer interpreted as being critical.

When seen through a healed mind, we’re no longer offended by another person’s ego. Committing to our inner healing changes everything…it’s why I’m such an advocate for doing your inner work. 🙂

Remember:

It’s never about the other person, situation or event.

It’s about how we interpret the other person, situation or event.

Make a pact with yourself to turn inward as soon as you feel the inclination to blame outwardly. This positions you to begin doing your inner work (shifting the ego-based perception to one of love), instead of getting caught in a never-ending cycle of blame and victimhood.

Pray for guidance in helping to more clearly see what is happening at the level of perception and/or meditate on the situation to gain a deeper understanding of how you may be interpreting a particular situation to aid in healing any errors in your perception.

The less defined our perception is by ego, the easier it is to accept another. This is why it’s crucial that we take full responsibility for our ego-based perceptions. In taking responsibility for them, we shine a light on what needs to be healed within ourselves.

To stay in a cycle of outward blaming is to remain a victim to ego. Love cannot come of this.

Break the cycle: Take responsibility. Go within. Heal. Accept yourself. Accept others. This is love.

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To accepting another fully into your heart,

Shanna

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