People who work with me in therapy accept that I often focus on the importance of accepting all feelings, even uncomfortable ones like fear and sadness. If we accept all feelings, instead of repressing or judging them, then all feelings can naturally flow through us.
These days, I am accepting all feelings –including hope, fear, and sadness — as I feel my way towards open heart surgery on September 21.
Yesterday, I accepted all feelings in an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy session. In that session, I transformed all my feelings about this thought:
Strangers are going to split me open, like they’re filleting a fish, and look at my totally exposed heart in a cold and lonely room.
to this thought:
People who want the best for me are going to have the privilege of seeing my unusual and beautiful heart and making it better. Maybe they’ll even take a picture of my heart so I can finally see it!
Throughout that EMDR exercise, I was accepting all feelings about this image (which I found here):
What feelings are you accepting now?
I am accepting all feelings about that image and about these photos I took yesterday:
I am accepting all feelings about all these songs about feelings (on YouTube here, here, here, and here):
Whatever feelings you have about this post, I accept them.
I’m accepting all my feelings of gratitude for those who helped me create this post and for you — of course! — no matter what feelings you’re accepting, here and now.