Acceptance vs. Resistance

Recently my life took a 180 degree turn when I fell 15’ off a roof and now I find myself in a wheelchair for 6 weeks while my bones mend.

It’s normal to be immediately resistant to the challenges of pain, difficulty with mobility that I’m experiencing. Having to ask for help all the time for all of my needs is not something that I’m used to, at all. I’m experiencing emotions of frustration, anger, grief, and blame. And I know that it’s normal to have these feelings while healing. I’m working hard and allowing myself to feel them, express them without abusing others so I can let them go.

The key phrase is “to let them go” or process them completely. Staying stuck in negativity will create and continue resistance to what is. It slows the healing process and imprisons us. It brings to mind: “What we resist, persists”. Most of us want the experience of illness, physical disability or emotional trauma to past quickly. So often we misunderstand that the main ingredient for this to occur is the experience of acceptance.

“Once we reach acceptance in our hearts and minds, we have power and resilience to face and move forward in our life.” Toni Stevens

Acceptance, not just for where we are now in our lives, but also for all the support we receive. We get to learn how to be a good receiver, not just a good giver. From Acceptance we can move and flow into a place of gratitude. As gratitude fills and opens our hearts there is no place for anger, blame or regret. Gratitude is like a flood, washing all other negative vibrations unlike itself away. Then when gratitude flows out toward those who are in our presence, it’s contagious. We lift the spirits and hearts of those around us and create an environment that supports and improves our health and our relationships. We become a powerful and positive force in our home, our community and like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples move out and touch lives of others that we will never meet.

Today from my wheelchair

I am grateful for my life
I am grateful for all the loving support flowing my way
I accept this love with a grateful heart
I am allowing it to fill me
I am allowing it to then turn and flow back out again.

So much Gratitude and love and it supports me and heals me. I am blessed.

You may have heard that meditation contributes to mental and physical health. How does it work?
Stress is linked to many physical imbalances. Research has shown that regular meditation greatly reduces stress. Hospitals all over the country now teach meditation and creative visualization to their patients to improve response to treatments and achieve a faster recovery rate. Through the reduction of stress, there is a lower incidence of these common imbalances.
Although there’s a some recorded history about meditation, the root of meditation travels back to ancient times. Researchers believe that primitive hunter-gatherer societies may have discovered meditation and its altered states of consciousness while staring at the flames of their fires. Over thousands of years, meditation evolved into a structured practice. Indian scriptures called “tantras” mentioned meditation techniques 5000 years ago. (meditationcenter.com)

Buddha, “one of history’s major proponents of meditation,” and a major meditation icon, first made his mark around 500 B.C. His teachings spread across the Asian continent. Separate countries or cultures adopted different forms of the word “meditation,” and they each found their own unique way of practicing it. Buddhist- and Hindu-based Easter-style meditation practices are still the most popular today.
Meditation was spread to Western society thousands of years after it was adopted in the East. It finally started to gain popularity in the West in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s and 1970s, many professors and researchers began testing the effects of meditation and learned about its multitude of benefits.

Common Physical Imbalances Caused by Stress	Physical Benefits from Lowered Stress
Heart attacks Diabetes Asthma Chronic pain Allergies Headache Backache Skin disorders Cancer Immune system weakness High cholesterol	Normalization of blood pressure Increased cardiovascular efficiency Faster recovery from illness or injury Relief from insomnia Reduced use of alcohol and cigarettes Normalization of weight Improved resistance to disease

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