EP 331: Cultivating Acceptance through Impermanence

The most accessible path to presence is acceptance. When we accept what is happening, right now, we stay free from the emotional overwhelm that keeps us from being present. But how do we train ourselves in acceptance? We do that by building the mental habit of recognizing impermanence. Virtually anything we experience in life is impermanent, externally, and internally. A traffic jam doesn’t last forever. Nor does that bad cold. Even stones are slowly decaying and won’t be around forever. The same is true for our physical sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts. Sensations of pleasure or pain come and go. Neuroscientists confirm that emotion in the body only lasts, on its own, for about 90 seconds. And our thoughts come into our mind from nowhere and will leave the same way if we let them. We can train our awareness of this impermanence with simple practices- formal or informal. And when we do so, we gain the mastery of emotional regulation which is, as one of my clients calls it, a superpower. Please reach out to learn about these simple practices.