Accepting yourself is love

Accepting yourself is love:) This is a happy Sunday revelation:)

Gurudev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji often says, ‘Accept people and situations as they are.’ That includes accepting yourself, without regret for the past.

Sounds complicated? Do what is easy, is his quick answer. If it is easy for you to not accept people and situations as they are, do that.

Is it easier to not accept myself as i am? 43 years of critical viewing of myself with little to gain and loads of dependency on others view of myself, doing things to please others, giving my intuition a back seat, letting go of opportunities because others in my life may not like it, trying to be picture-perfect on the outside, and open to a constant firing from within was not an easy way to live. Was it fruitful? Did it keep me happy? Not that, either:)

It is with yoga and meditation that i found myself as a whole person. Happy to listen to my body, notice my mind, learn from mistakes and move into this moment, fresh as the moment itself! The safety net? Love.

It was great to have a teenage student of mine sing during a Medha Yoga session. This was a song from the movie Frozen, ‘Let it go…’ An otherwise shy child, she sang from the depth of her being and moved every one of the 120 of us teenaged yogis in the room.

119 of the 120 present were teenaged girls, but most of us grown-ups barely realize that the mind is still sauntering in the peace of childhood or the strife of teenage, even as we pose along as adults!

Looking around to be accepted and loved remained a quest till i kept looking for it in the wrong place! Acceptance for self, if not from within is a castle on sand. Accepting yourself is love. That’s the only way there is:) Unless, you have a Guru like mine, who loves unconditionally, watches over you and has infinite patience too, so that you find yourself.

Happy to share a poem by Gurudev…

The Promise

If I had to promise you something, what would it be?

I can’t promise that you would always be comfortable…Because comfort brings boredom and discomfort.

I can’t promise that all your desires will be fulfilled…Because desires whether fulfilled or unfulfilled bring frustration.

I can’t promise that there will always be good times…Because it is the tough times that make us appreciate joy.

I can’t promise that we will be rich or famous or powerful…

Because they can all be pathways to misery.

I can’t promise that we will always be together…

Because it is separation that makes togetherness so wonderful.

Yet if you are willing to walk with me, if you are willing to value love over everything else,

I promise that this will be the most rich and fulfilling life possible.

I promise your life will be an eternal celebration,

I promise you I will cherish you more than a king cherishes his crown,

And I shall love you more than a mother loves her newborn.

If you are willing to walk into my arms,

If you are willing to live in my heart,

You will find the one you have waited forever….

You will meet yourself in my arms…

I promise.

Poem written by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Welcome home to the Art of Living International Center, Bangalore

[Anisha Sharma is a yoga teacher, certified by the Ayush ministry, Government of India. Inspired and trained by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji and senior teachers of the Art of Living and Sri Sri School of Yoga. She teaches Children & Teens, Parenting, Ayurvedic cooking, Natural farming and Yoga programmes in schools and other institutions.]

Anisha