Striving. Aiming for somewhere. Accepting. Accepting yourself and where you’re at.

This has been playing around in my head today since they said a day ago that mindfulness means non striving. I began writing about it in my previous post about the class. If I could have actually said it then, I would’ve.

Mindfulness means being present. Accepting your reality. And that can include planning where you want to be and aiming for that place. The AND.

Being that this is an MBSR post, a current example for me during the last 3 MBSR zoom classes is: I accept my social anxiety. Who knew I had social anxiety? I didn’t! Well, I did to an extent. I accept that I find it really hard to share despite every other person in the group sharing. I thought I would share. AND I hope that one day I will share. (As I wrote I actually tried to and wasnt heard – yay me for trying). I would really like to share, just to be able to and I hope that during the next 5 weeks I will. Both striving and accepting. The AND and the BOTH. For both are true. I can strive. I can aim for somewhere. At the same time I can fully accept where I’m at.

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I can accept where I am AND plan for something different. I can live with AND and BOTH. My world, I'm sure not just my world, is one of contradictions. Where I live with the constant contradiction. The AND and the BOTH are equally valid and can coexist. I'm writing this about an #MBSR #mindfulnesscourse so… 💕 I accept that it was too scary for me to speak AND I hope I will still speak. 💕 I accept that I get really distracted during every practice AND I hope to get better and plan different timings to make it better. 💕 I accept that I'm more comfortable with some people AND I try not let it affect me. 💕 I accept that I'm not practicing as much as I would like to AND I strive to practice more. I've really appreciated @intuitionawakening on the topic. It's good it's just about #mindfulliving else it could be about #lifevsdeath 🙂

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I can look at my life at the moment as another example. If I didn’t aim anywhere I wouldn’t be doing this mindfulness course, and I’d probably be dead rather than writing this. Does that mean I don’t accept myself? Well, I don’t accept where I’m at but that’s besides the point. I’m trying to accept where I’m at. I’m trying to love myself no matter what destruction I’m living with. And I’m striving – to use the words in the course. I’m aiming for a life without destruction. They are both true.

I love this gals posts on the topic.

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32 thoughts on “MBSR (5) Striving vs Accepting. Where both are true.”

      1. I would be honest if I didn’t say it was a compete challenge, but I Caine out of it shining more than I would have done a year ago, which feels like progress to me.

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  6. love this! you did end up writing the post…
    it’s lovely to read about your MBSR. accepting is great.
    you go, gal. you shine. you rock.
    ❤
    love always,
    [gotw}

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  9. I wasn’t sure if you were being sarcastic where you said, “As i wrote i actually tried to and wasnt heard – yay me” but I think you should be proud of yourself for at least trying to speak. I know that often I don’t even try to speak up.

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  10. Absolutely – acceptance is such an important part of mindfulness. I love your point about acceptance and striving for better both being true – I definitely struggle with the contradiction but am trying to learn to live with them both in peace 🙂

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      1. I see it as links of the same chain. I am mindful about how things are and what I want. Then, I strive. Whatever happens, I analyze and draw conclusions. Then, I go back to striving. They’re symbiotic to me.

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