Loving Acceptance Meditation

Cultivating a compassionate heart toward our own life, our relationships, and the world

Part of our human challenge is that our lives are divided and in pain.

One way we can create the opening we need to lay down our anger and fear is through the mindful practice of loving and accepting each other and ourselves, and seeing beyond the pain in our relationships and lives.

One way to practice this is with with a loving acceptance meditation.  We have been doing this meditation in a small group almost every week for 10 years, since the Spring of 2010.  Starting at 12:15 p.m. (CT), the 30-minute meditation takes place each week in Appleton, Wisconsin. ​

However, with the current health concerns related to COVID-19, we will through a conference call as well as in person at First Congregational Church UCC at 724 E. South River St., Appleton.  We've found in the past that for meditation, an audio-only call works better than a video call, so that's what we'll do.  Plus if you call in, you can meditate in your pajamas!
At our usual time (Wednesday, a little before 12:15 CT), just come by or call into the number below and put in the access code.  We start promptly at 12:15, so please arrive or call in a few minutes early.  If you're early, say hello to the other attendees and then as we start, mute your phone.  If you're signing in late, please remain silent and mute your phone.  I suggest you find a quiet, comfortable and undistracted place to be for 30 minutes, and maybe light a candle. 

Call in:  425-436-6311
Access code:  547795

The loving acceptance meditation printed below is an example of what we'll be doing.  The theme we focus on in the live meditation changes every time we do it, although the overall format generally stays the same. 

The button below links you to audio files of our recent loving acceptance meditations at First Congregational Church UCC in Appleton. ​
A Meditation of Loving Acceptance 

Sit comfortably and relax with each breath.
When you're distracted, return your attention to your breath.

Notice that your breath is a letting go and a taking in
a letting go of what you no longer need  
and a taking in of what you need now.
 
Just as in life
you let go of thoughts, feelings and activities you no longer want or need
and take in new ways of being and doing
you are ready for now.

   *     *     *     *     *

Be aware of an important person in your life 
all the joys and difficulties
everything you appreciate and find challenging about that person. 

Let your experience of that person  
rest in your heart
in loving acceptance
just as it is.  

Let yourself be at peace.
May all be at peace.

   *     *     *     *     *

Now be aware of an important person in your life 
who led you into a deeper understanding of yourself.

Perhaps it was a person who led you to appreciate
how much a relationship can mean to you
or how much you can love someone
or how important it is for you to set boundaries or say "no." 

Let your experience of that person  
rest in your heart
in loving acceptance
just as it is.  

Let yourself be at peace.
May all be at peace.

   *     *     *     *     *

Now be aware of an important person in your life 
who made things difficult or painful
or harmed you in serious ways. 

Perhaps that person deliberately hurt you 
or was thoughtless or cruel
or simply made a mistake 
or didn't understand something important to you. 

Let that painful experience of yourself and that person
rest in your heart
in loving acceptance
just as it is.  

May your loving acceptance support
the healing, resolution or closure
you need around that experience. 

Let yourself be at peace.
May all be at peace.

   *     *     *     *     *

Now be aware of an important person in your life 
who led you to transcend
the issues and concerns of your personal self. 

A person who led you 
into a deep awareness of relationship
or love
or the universe
or God
or life itself. 

Let your experience of that person 
rest in your heart
in loving acceptance
just as it is.  

And let yourself rest deep in the heart of compassion
where you are always loved and accepted 
just the way you are.

Let yourself be at peace.
May all be at peace.

   *     *     *     *     *

May all be at peace.

Be grateful for your life
and for all life.

Let your loving acceptance of the important people in your life 
lead you toward what is real and true.

And when you're ready
be aware of your feet on the floor
your hands in your lap
and your breath
letting go and taking in
the life you live.

                                      *                     *                    *                    *                    *                    *                     *                    *                     *                    *                    *

Some thoughts about this meditation.  Those of you familiar with loving kindness meditation from the Buddhist tradition will certainly see the similarities with this meditation.  Yet loving acceptance meditation is intended to have a somewhat different effect than that beautiful and venerable practice. At least in the beginning stages of practicing loving kindness meditation, sending love, peace and ease to those you feel a deep conflict with may increase the sense of conflict, or feel difficult or false.  Making loving acceptance the focus of the meditation - lovingly accepting that a person or situation is the way that it is - is a practice specifically intended to reduce the experience of separation and conflict with difficult people and situations and move you toward toward discovering your true relationship with them. 

So in that sense, this meditation is intended to help "end the war" against others and situations in your life that you have conflicts with.  And this presents us with a problem: How do we accept the unacceptable?  How do we love the torturer, the liar, the rapist, the killer?  How do we accept the death of children due to war, disease, or starvation?  There is endless suffering in the world, and is this meditation saying it is all OK?

Loving acceptance of the people and situations we find abhorrent and have deep disagreement with is not about agreeing with them or affirming them, but about accepting the larger truth of their existence without 
minimizing or denying any aspect of what troubles us.  It is coming to understand and be at peace within ourselves about the whole truth: that they are the way they are - and they are more than we know.  Our awareness is always limited by our human perception and personal perspective, and there is more to every person and situation than we know or understand.  

Where does that lead us?  As we look closely at the people and situations that trouble us with loving acceptance, we become better able to respond genuinely to them, perhaps with loving, compassionate tears.  In reducing the emotional and mental reactivity that separates us from them, we find it easier to access our wise inner knowing that is able to express our true self and our true relationship with those people and situations.  Guided by that inner wisdom, we may find ourselves becoming more involved and moving closer to them, or becoming less involved and moving away.  Paradoxically, as we open to their truth and to our own, we let ourselves change and open the possibility for those people and situations to change as well.

So as you practice this meditation, you may find that loving acceptance of your own truth and the truth of others and the world brings you a peaceful clarity and quiet fearlessness.  You may find in yourself a greater willingness to speak or be silent, to act or not act, as you are called to do in compassion guided by the wisdom of the deepest truth you know.