The 44: The Power of Welcoming Your Experience

So you’re doing Practice 3 – Curiosity & Welcoming … and you might be wondering what the big deal is …

Well, it’s a big deal, my friend! :)

Our normal tendency is to reject certain things about our experience:

• Things about ourselves we don’t like
• Difficult emotions we don’t want to feel anymore
• Frustrating ways that other people act
• Situations we don’t find comfortable

And it might seem justified to reject these things – who wants to feel depressed or angry? Why should we be happy if someone is being inconsiderate? Why should we be elated that we procrastinated all day?

But in truth, when we reject parts of ourselves, we are not being loving or accepting. We’re not developing a good relationship with ourselves.

When we reject things about other people or situations, we are not developing a good relationship with our lives.

If instead we start to become curious about our experience, and welcome whatever we’re experiencing … all of a sudden, we’re more open to ourselves, open to others, open to life. We don’t have to be unhappy that things are the way they are. We don’t have to try to get away from the discomfort of our experience.

We can stay in the middle of groundless uncertainty, and be OK. In fact, we can develop an openness about it, even find gratitude and mindfulness in the middle of all of it.

This is the power of welcoming your experience.

It will make more sense the longer you practice. So keep practicing.

And whatever you meet during your practice … just welcome it.