Acceptance of oneSelf
Below are extracts, for the full text go to the "psychblog pdfs" link.
Self-acceptance is a potent idea and is central to most of my therapy work. In fact, as I have reflected upon my life I have realized that it has been a central theme. --- At aged 21 I sought and entered into therapy - to rid myself of my guilt-shame, to make sense of and move beyond my adolescence dramas and pains. I did not know what to expect of therapy or my therapist, who was also a Christian priest. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. A deep healing occurred as a result of the unconditional acceptance of (my) self (UAS) invoked in me by my therapist‘s UA of me.
--- Part of the self-transformation that was occurring for me in my twenties was about questioning the very nature of "self" as a separate entity. --- Ramesh says, "If you do not accept, you will suffer" --- Resistance to what is only prolongs and perhaps worsens our suffering. --- At this point Albert Ellis‘s work converges with that of the advaitist mystics. --- Accepting this, because we deeply understand it, enables us to realize that there is no-one else to blame, not even ourselves - the end of guilt, shame, blame - and the dawn of truly enlightened "self" acceptance. --- In complete Self-acceptance there is no choice, only being and the illusion of non-being. --- All our struggles with self-acceptance are simply movement of the caterpillar larvae within its cacoon, part of the process of metamorphosis into the beautiful butterfly latent within the self. --- To be or not to be, is that a question, and if so who asks? --- Thus enlightenment is not an end, just the end of an outmoded way of seeing and being, and the awakening into the ever-present OneSelf.
Self-acceptance is a potent idea and is central to most of my therapy work. In fact, as I have reflected upon my life I have realized that it has been a central theme. --- At aged 21 I sought and entered into therapy - to rid myself of my guilt-shame, to make sense of and move beyond my adolescence dramas and pains. I did not know what to expect of therapy or my therapist, who was also a Christian priest. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. A deep healing occurred as a result of the unconditional acceptance of (my) self (UAS) invoked in me by my therapist‘s UA of me.
--- Part of the self-transformation that was occurring for me in my twenties was about questioning the very nature of "self" as a separate entity. --- Ramesh says, "If you do not accept, you will suffer" --- Resistance to what is only prolongs and perhaps worsens our suffering. --- At this point Albert Ellis‘s work converges with that of the advaitist mystics. --- Accepting this, because we deeply understand it, enables us to realize that there is no-one else to blame, not even ourselves - the end of guilt, shame, blame - and the dawn of truly enlightened "self" acceptance. --- In complete Self-acceptance there is no choice, only being and the illusion of non-being. --- All our struggles with self-acceptance are simply movement of the caterpillar larvae within its cacoon, part of the process of metamorphosis into the beautiful butterfly latent within the self. --- To be or not to be, is that a question, and if so who asks? --- Thus enlightenment is not an end, just the end of an outmoded way of seeing and being, and the awakening into the ever-present OneSelf.
