Thought Bath: Self-Acceptance
The Samhain Solar Downbeat + The Inner Dive Podcast Episode + Monthly Thought Bath
Next Tuesday, November 7th at 11:36 a.m. Central Time - we will pass through the Samhain Solar Downbeat. This is the All-Hallows portal - a potent threshold, marking our entry into the yin dominant energy flow, and the Dreamtime part of the year. Samhain is a Gaelic word, and in the older days this festival was the mark of the final harvest, and the transition into the darker portion of the year - when the veils between the realms of spirit and matter thin. I like to think of this time of year as the Dreamtime, in relation to the bear who enters into a deep state of quiescence during the dark winter months. This hibernation is not that of unconsciousness, but the return to a wider realm of awareness - the Imaginal Realm of vision and dream. At least that is how I like to think about bear’s deep winter sleep, and that is how I like to consider the twelve weeks straddling the apex of the Winter Solstice. On one side we have the six weeks following Samhain, and on the other, the six weeks between the Winter Solstice and the next solar downbeat, which is called Imbolc - the Return of the Light. These twelve weeks are the darkest portion of the year in the northern hemisphere - and they offer a particular kind of container that is conducive to the tending of our inner hearths.
I enjoy acknowledging Samhain and welcoming the dark times. The darkness is where our fertility lies; within the unseen and the unknown lie potential and possibility; within the darkness we can rest and replenish. I find it easy to turn inward during the late autumn and winter months; the elemental conditions support this flow. When I hear people talk about their dislike for the colder, darker months - I often wonder if it is because they have not found comfort within their inner landscape. After a spring, summer, and fall spent outwards enjoying the proliferation of life, I find it not only relaxing and nourishing, but in a lot of ways, necessary, to settle back into myself in the ways that only the Dreamtime can provide. This means focusing more on my ideas as seeds - not needing to plant them right away in the realm of action. I still do a lot of “action” in the winter…in fact it is one of my most physically active times of year - but the emphasis on my spending time in the deeper realms of vision and dream is at the fore.
Like all solar downbeats, Samhain is not just a name, but an electromagnetic moment in time. We can choose to receive these energies consciously, and in doing so we potentiate them, receiving them more deeply into our being. Especially with Samhain, there is the emphasis on the thinning of the veil between dimensions - the perfect time to reconsider my relationship with the life-death continuum. As I stand witness on the precipice between worlds, I am changed in my acknowledgement of life beyond this five-senses form.
This year I have plans to roll beeswax candles, infuse them with intentions, and bless them in a personal ritual. For me this is very practical - I like to burn candles at night during the darker months, and the thought of using candles all winter-long that were blessed at Samhain feels…fun, magical, playful. I also enjoy fire-rituals at Samhain - offering to the fire all that I wish to leave behind as I step through the threshold into the Dreamtime. In years past we have cooked up a warm meal, held a fire ritual outside, and used only candle-light indoors after the sun has set. These acts help to set the tone for the coming weeks, and speak to the many levels of my being that we are entering a different mode - helping me recognize the way these cycles are mirrored within my own shifting rhythms. This helps me hold expectations of myself that are in harmony with the flow of the seasons, rather than against them.
Part of this flow is allowing myself to bask in the liminal space that Dreamtime offers. As humans, we have a strong requirement for altered states - this is why we require sleep and dream - we have the need to sink deeply into the realms of alpha, theta and delta, to replenish and reconnect with our wider selves, releasing the beta brain resistance of the day in sweet surrender. In my experience, the solar downbeats - especially that of Samhain and Yule (Winter Solstice) - are portals through which we can access expanded states with eyes wide open. In becoming sensitive to what Stephen Buhner calls, “the touch of the world upon us” - we can feel the shift in the world’s wild rhythm, just like we feel the rain or wind on our face. It is affirming to feel the pull of the solar downbeat portal - a sense of dreamlike intensity, and unique sensations in my body. I love sensing these shifts, as I welcome the evidence of my connection to the larger whole. While we do not need a reason to connect more deeply with life, these solar downbeats offer a natural pause within which we can find resonance with the wildness we are a part of.
Samhain Blessings and Love,
Emma
Thought Bath: Self-Acceptance
If you are new to True Nature and have no idea what a Thought Bath is - take a few minutes to read the preamble here.
For everyone - I have added a Thought Bath tab to the True Nature homepage - this is a quick reference page where you can find links to all the published Thought Baths in one place.
For paid subscribers, I have moved the link to the downloadable audio files to its own homepage tab.
How we think about ourselves is extremely important with regards to how are able to show up in our lives, and how our lives seem to us. Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that at the root of all resistance - emotional patterns of distress - there is some form of self-devaluation. In one way or another, we are thinking negatively about ourselves and forgetting our relationship with the larger Universe.
There are countless variations on how we might be devaluing or not accepting ourselves - but it all comes down to believing in our own limitations and holding ourselves to past experiences, old stories, and lackful expectations. These patterns of devaluing ourselves are learned, and they can be difficult to spot at first glance - especially after years of mental repetition, and watching those practiced ideas of self play out in our lives.
Deeper down our true knowing is something quite different. I find it helpful to tune into that deeper knowing however I can, and seek the clear-seeing view of myself. Sometimes I’ll ask: “Is this who I really think I am?” “Is this the relationship with the Universe I really think I have?” These are helpful questions if I remember that my somatic response, how I feel, is guiding me. Tension tells me that there is dissonance between my current focus and deeper knowing. Relief or relaxation tells me that my current focus and deeper knowing are congruent. When I find that congruency, I know I have found resonance with the whole of who I am.
In asking these questions, I am intending to remind myself that I am not just some tiny body being buffeted around by life, but creative consciousness embodied. My focus matters - and it matters that I remember who I am so that I can wield my focus in the ways that are most life-giving to me, and to all my relations in the greater web of life.
It is in this vein, that I am offering this Thought Bath of Self-Acceptance. Nothing has been more helpful for me, than finding a stable, steady sense of self-love. I am positive that having love and complete acceptance for ourselves is part of our basic, natural state of well-being. That’s why it feels so good to feel proud of ourselves, to feel confident, valuable, and good-of-heart; to trust our growth and expansion, and to know that we are both love and wisdom at the very core of who we are. When we find knowing, or even hope in these qualities - we become congruent - and we feel the resonance on all levels of our being. When we disbelieve our worthiness through practiced thought, or observation of how we have flowed our energy in the past, the dissonance and disagreement from the deeper levels of self, is equally felt. The body, and its master The Heart, never lies. There’s no way to fake self-love - it is something that we must return to and embody.
Attuning to Self-Acceptance: Audio
Attuning to Self-Acceptance: Script
Read the following words as if they are your own thoughts. Take the time to feel the statements. Allow your mind to find images and pleasant memories that correspond to the meanings conveyed. Savor the feeling you conjure through your focus.
Self-Acceptance
I like feeling good about myself
Feeling at peace with who I am
Loving all the parts of me
It feels so relaxing
To embrace who I am
Right at this moment
I can feel my body relaxing
As I accept who I am
Who I have been
And who I am becoming
Loving myself is a warm
Soothing glow
In my heart
In my cells
Bathing my energy
Flowing, gentle joy all around me
I love me
I love who I am
I love watching myself grow
Watching myself change
Evolve and expand
This accepting of who I am
This feeling of being alright with me
This opens the gates of well-being
And wellness
And thriving within me, around me
In this loving of who I am
My life becomes easier
I’m no longer fighting me
Devaluing
Degrading
Looking down on myself
Comparing
Thinking I need to prove something
Or shaming myself for things I think have gone wrong
When I do that, I block the flow
Of my own vital energy
From this perspective the life I could be living
Doesn’t seem to make me happy
I’ve forgotten who I am
I’ve lost touch with my quantum identity
I’m seeing myself differently
With endless problems
From which I feel I can never break free
At the core
I am good
I am love
I am fun
I am joy
I am a creator
A perceiver
A liver of life
My focus matters
My thoughts matter
My emotions and experience matters
Not just to me and my life
But to the whole I’m a part of
Who I am matters
I’m not here to be stainless
I’m here to grow and expand
To learn and evolve
To take joy in the unfolding
To live life with abandon
The true heart of joy
First starts with myself
If I cannot offer myself love
How can I offer love to anyone else?
I want my cup to be full
So my love overflows
As a fountain
A well-spring
A source of well-being
Suffusing
Infusing
My body, my life
My perspective
My logic
All my relationships
This is the energy I want to emanate
This is the signature I want to radiate
The signal of self-acceptance
Okayness
Permission to relax
In who I am right this moment
Who I’ve been in my growing
There are some forms of wisdom
Only the living of life teaches
The challenging lessons
Can be some of the greatest
Moments of growth
True life-giving change
This is my precious life journey
I get to decide the meaning of what occurs
No one else is looking over my shoulder keeping score
The chalk is in my hand
The marks are in my book
I get to decide to throw judgement away
I get to decide to love who I am
I get to decide the changes I want to make
I get to decide that everything is truly okay
If there’s one thing that’s painful
It’s looking back with regret
Devaluing myself
For what I didn’t know yet
That pain is the signal that my focus is out of wack
That I’m flowing my energy to what I don’t want
Out of agreement
With my deeply held intentions
To be Love in this body
To use my mind for creation
And my feelings as guidance
To embody with feeling
That which I wish to receive
How can I find people or experiences pleasing
If I am not first satisfied with me?
It feels good to come back to my center
To relax and accept
Who I am right now
Knowing all my changes are far from complete
My body agrees with this focus
Of loving myself
My breathing deepens
Tension releases
Relief washes through me
This self-acceptance is soothing
It’s a nourishing balm
Helping all my channels open
Allowing my energy to flow
This is the energy of me
This is me that I love
The energy of life
Moving to me, and through me
Out into the world
My life is the evidence
Of my inner acceptance
Accepting my goodness
Accepting that things are supposed to go well
Accepting I am here to enjoy
Not to struggle or suffer
Even if things have gone wrong
Or seem off in this moment
I can choose a new focus
That reorients the flow
Of the life energy within me
Flowing from me
Gathering around
Do I see myself thriving?
Or have I cut myself off?
From my natural inheritance
The vibration of abundance
Abiding in me as Love,
My own vital-life-force energy
In loving myself
I open up to the whole of who I am
Not just as this body
In it’s amazing intelligence
But spirit embodied
A conscious, creative, awareness in form
I’m here to discover new thoughts
To take life to new places
To throw off the old tracks
And rewrite the stories
I’m a quantum creator
Which means my focus matters
This means my thoughts have deep purpose
And my emotions are essential
There is nothing more important than feeling good about me
This feeling is the evidence that I desire to see
In the unfolding of my life
In beautiful, easeful, smooth ways
The true essence of self-love
Is well-being, my natural state
Of knowing my connection
With the Universe at large
Of seeing life respond to me
To my focus and thoughts
In understanding that each of us has this clear, direct link
To the resources of life
That exist beyond the physical
Is how I remember that we each are worthy
From the very beginning
No matter what has been happening
When I love my Self
For who I am in the moment
I am returning my energy
To the powerful present
Where my ability abides
To choose a new path
A new track
A new sense of who I am beyond lack
Beyond struggle
Beyond tension
Beyond living a life that’s defined by someone else’s patterns and habits
This feeling of relief in the acceptance of me
This is the evidence I’m changing my vibrational identity
Returning my energy
To who I am as Love embodied
Proud of who I am
Loving my unique expression
Desiring to live life
Fully present in possibility
It’s only in loving myself that the reflection I offer
Serves the whole, serves my life
In the manner I intended
Before I chose to take form
Before I chose to become me
There’s no ego to get rid of
Only love to increase
If I accept where I am
I find the gateway to change
Otherwise I hold myself tethered to the past
To the same
In acceptance, I let go
And allow myself an opening
Into the new
Into expansion
Into all that life holds for me
Loving myself feels like
Warm, soothing pride
Clear confidence
Soul-happiness
Arising from inside
The feeling of an effortless, job well-done
The feeling of adding goodness to life just by being
The feeling of value and worthy from the beginning, nothing to prove
I am unique
There is no one else like me
Which means no one else has access to my exact thoughts
Being me in my fullest is how I add to solutions
For this world
For this universe
What I bring no one else duplicates
This is true of all of us
Every single node on this web
Our collective
Our greater family
It’s in our uniqueness that we expand
Part of accepting myself
Is accepting that what I can do is enough
And how I feel about me
Is the true accomplishment
At the end of the day
It’s not the quantity or measurements
It’s did I feel love for myself?
And offer that outwards?
I can start right now
In this moment by relaxing
All the expectations I have for myself
That keep me in tension
I can open right now and tell myself that I’m wonderful
This allowing the sensation of self-love to flourish
Can only bring me more wellness, well-being, and thriving
And so I am choosing this focus
As the signal I’m sending
This is the channel I’m tuning to now
It’s one I can practice
Until I find myself effortlessly here
Again, like a child
Holding dreams in my heart
Knowing life is for fun
Knowing I’m loved by the universe
And I’m the only one
In my mind
In my body
There is only one me
In my act of self-acceptance
I am contributing to collective harmony
And this doesn’t mean everyone else will agree
It just means I know where to seek
The love that will nourish me
Knowing it comes from within
I stop holding everyone else accountable
Finding my own self-acceptance
I’m no longer offended or bothered
Loving myself is the root of true freedom
Accepting myself is the essence I’m seeking
It feels good to come home to myself in this moment
It feels good to find peace in my present unfolding
I can choose me
I can love who I am
And in loving myself
I can love the whole world
In accepting myself I find understanding
Everyone is wanting to find their own well-spring
This is it, the big secret
How to live a great life
It starts here in my heart
Finding self-acceptance inside
The most timely and resonant thought bath yet!! Thank you. (Inclusion of my tattoo plant marked it as if with my name, and my soul received it.)