Self-Acceptance – Oprah & Deepak Meditation Challenge Day 3
Day 3 of my Meditation Challenge with Oprah and Deepak Chopra centers around letting go of self-judgement and accepting myself. As I mentioned in the introduction to my 21 day journal, the first week of the meditation challenge, “Miraculous Relationships”, aims to help us accept and love ourselves for, as Oprah says in the introduction to today’s lesson, “Our capacity to love and celebrate other people is directly connected to our ability to fully love ourself.” The centering thought for the third day was “I am a wondrous miracle of life”.
A Break in my Meditation Challenge
As much as I was sure that I certainly would not miss any day of this wonderful challenge, I was reminded that I am only a particle of a bigger plan called the universe. The death of a relative, the funeral and the resultant piling up of work made it impossible for me to set aside even the very reasonable time frame of 15 minutes that this meditation challenge requires. Miraculously, a re-assuring email from Deepak and Oprah reached me (just like it did before Day 2 when I was struggling with distracting thoughts). The contents of the email seemed to be tailored to my situation at that time. A reference was made to there being ‘occasionally present detours” in my journey and mentioned that it was okay to miss a few days. I just needed to go back to the challenge and continue from where I left. So here I am, journaling Day 3 as most of my fellow meditators have probably completed their first week of the challenge.
A Miracle of Life
Day 3 flows seamlessly forward from Day 2 as we are reminded that we are all a miracle of life. We have present within us, the same same element as the stars, the Angels and even God. We are as divine as every other particle in this universe. We repeated to ourselves, “I am a Wondrous Miracle of Life!”.
The powerful words of Oprah and the enlightening discourse by Deepak gently helped me grasp this concept. I am the youngest of 4 siblings and was born after a gap of 7 years after the 3rd one. As a result, I have often been called a ‘mistake’. In jest, of course. My parents and my family love me too much to even think otherwise. But today’s lesson makes an effort towards awakening ourselves to our being. I am as much a ‘mistake’ as the Sun itself. ‘I Am’, because I was meant to be. And so are all of us!
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
This is another great step towards letting go of self-criticism and self-judgement. Self-acceptance is the best form of internal healing. Dwelling on the ups and downs of our ‘created-self’ only brings fear and suffering – and a never ending struggle to better ourselves for the benefit of others. Instead, we could use that time to open our hearts to ourselves, embrace ourselves as we are and feel all the goodness and love that has been inside us all along. You will be surprised to know how much baggage you will drop behind you as you learn to simply ‘Be’ – without judging yourself all the time!
Meditation
Keeping the centering thought of the miraculous nature of our existence, Deepak encouraged meditating on the Sanskrit mantra ‘Sham’ which assists in helping unlock an energy center in our forehead that connects us to our intuition and inner knowing. I was delighted to find that despite missing a few days of meditation, I did not face too much difficulty trying to meditate. I am guessing that the recent encounter with death had to something with it. The uncomfortable feeling that gripped me when looking at the dead body aided the return to meditation. Unlike other bad experiences that happen to others, and make you grateful that you were spared, witnessing a death does not make you feel that way. You know that it is inevitable. It will come to you, and to everyone else you love.
Finding a path that leads you towards a place where the discomfort of parting with your loved ones will lessen, made me crave for meditation. The realization that our core spirit is timeless and full of life, and it is only the lifeless body that you see before you, makes it easier to accept death. At least I hope it does.
Namaste.
