Twelve Key Points on Acceptance and Mindfulness

Just because you think it doesn’t make it true. For example, “I think I am going to fail.” It doesn’t have to be true, but thinking in this way can create your own self-fulfilling prophesy.

Feeling it doesn’t make it fact. “I have a bad feeling about tomorrow’s interview” It isn’t fated to go badly, but a person’s poor choices based on their feeling could lead to problems.

Thoughts, feelings, concepts are creations of your mind. As such, you can step back from them and observe them. Getting some distance gives them less power and you more control.

We cloud our current experience by thoughts of past events and worries about future outcomes.

Mindfulness is being present in the moment, experiencing without judgment.

When we try to avoid something or try to get rid of it, we give it more power over us.

When we experience something as it is, we don’t experience it as worse than it is.

The goal is not to get rid of discomfort; rather it is to simply be able to be with the discomfort.

Serenity Prayer:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Be mindful of your thinking so that you can alter it if it is extreme or limiting.

Be mindful during moments that you want to experience fully, without distraction.

Practice moments of mindfulness as a form of meditation and relaxation.