Acceptance/ Letting Go

The first step of acceptance is to be mindful. Just to see and be open. The second step is to watch how your mind relates to whatever arises. Often we have a reactive response. If we like it we want to hold on to it and if we don't we push it away. Each of these responses are the opposite of acceptance. For example if we are climbing and we begin to feel fear we often try to push the fear out of our minds. The best thing to do is to stop making things different and accept fear for what it is and go beyond our fear of fear. Instead of trying to change the energy be open to the energy that is already there. Through acceptance we settle back into mindfulness and accept whatever is there in the present.

Throughout the months of training, I practiced an attitude of acceptance; no matter what the situation presented, I made an effort to remain patient and relaxed each step of the way. My intent was to pay attention to my intuitive sense and follow the natural intelligence of the body. When I made this shift in emphasis, my whole approach changed. Lynn Hill, Climbing Free (Freeing the Nose)

LETTING GO!
Here is a famous anecdote about the way you catch a monkey in India.
You drop a handful of nuts into a jar with a small opening. The monkey puts his hand into the jar, grabs the nuts, and then finds that he can't get his fist out through the opening. If the monkey would just let go of the nuts, he could escape. But he won't. When fear arises is climbing don't try to fight it or else it won't let you go.


Birds make great sky-circles
Of their freedom.
How do they do they learn it?

They fall
And falling,
They're given wings.
Rumi