Rise Up

 I finished a book this past month called Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, and have had much to ponder on these past few weeks. For those of you who don't know, this book is based on the Buddhist practice of accepting ourselves and life as it is. This concept suggests that once we accept it... the good, the bad, and the ugly.... the honest and complete truth of it... then we can change what needs to change, and be at peace with the rest of it. Once you read a book like this, you either take a good look at your life, or you throw the book in the garbage and go back into your trance as Tara calls it. Ironically, this is also what it's called in the Barbie movie when Barbie comes back to Barbie land and finds all the girls in a trance because the Patriarchy has taken over (sound familiar?😏). I must say, I never thought I'd read a book on Buddhism, and see a Barbie movie at the same time and feel like I'm getting a similar message, nonetheless this message is coming through loud and clear, and, I for one, am listening...

Looking back through my life, I think I always welcomed the truth and I genuinely wanted to know the reality of life. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in a pretend world where everything was always "fine" when it wasn't. But as I got older, and things got harder I started to realize the reason people just pretend like everything's fine is because it's easier than facing the truth, and if your a person like me, who would still rather face the truth and talk about it, you soon learn nobody else wants to face it... and no one else wants to talk about it. So I gave in, not because I didn't want to face reality, but because nobody else did. So just like everyone else, I put a smile on my face and said everything was "fine"...  It was fine when I felt devalued and underestimated in The Mormon Church, it was fine when I felt devalued and underestimated in my marriage, and it ended up being fine when I tried to talk to someone about it, but nobody wanted to listen. 

Thankfully after all these years I'm done being fine all the time... sometimes I'm not fine, and neither is life, and that's just the way it is... Radical Acceptance. Embracing this in our life is freeing and scary all at the same time. It means awkward situations at times, standing your ground, the possibility of loosing friends or family, and maybe having to be alone sometimes because giving in just to make others happy or comfortable is not an option anymore. My friend sent me a quote the other day by Brene Brown that said, "Ask yourself. What's the greater risk? Letting go of what other people think or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?" "Wow!" It's just not worth losing yourself over, and even though we might lose some things, because freedom always comes at a cost, we gain much more in return. Not only do we gain our freedom, but we also gain integrity and respect... respect from others, and respect for ourselves. I never thought I'd be brave enough to live my life like this, but I think I might be...  I think this may be the only way to complete freedom, to get on the elevator to enlightenment, to enjoy all the beautiful things life has to offer... and to completely Rise Up...

"Always looking up at higher floors..."




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