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I often read the poem: Wild Geese by Mary Oliver fairly early on in a Mindfulness & Compassion Course. The reason is that so many of us find the idea of choosing to accept ourselves just as we are, so radical!

Most participants admit that they have been rejecting parts of themselves all of their life.
Does this resonates with you?

You may believe that you are ‘not good enough’, ‘unworthy’, ‘inadequate’, not attractive, don’t have a good personality…. whatever story you have unconsciously adopted. Certainly, this is my experience.

What if you are Perfect just as you are!

Maybe, someone criticised you or told you, you weren’t good enough a long time ago?
Certainly, you have been telling yourself ever since and just not trusting or feeling positive about parts of yourself.

But, the practice of Mindfulness & Self Compassion gives you the space and practices to re-write this story. You can learn to develop a nurturing relationship with yourself and start seeing everything with new eyes.

Perfect as you are

What if you are Perfect just as you are…
Mindfulness & Self Compassion nurtures self acceptance,
self appreciation and compassion for others

It is wonderful to witness during the duration of a course how participants’ hard critical self rejecting perception softens. Something new opens up.
People start accepting and appreciating their own innate perfection and goodness (even when they are not perfect or get it right!)

It has been my own experience and one of the reasons I enjoy facilitating courses so much…

Here is this wonderful poem:

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

This blog was written by Joanne O’Malley, Mindfulness at Work.

Please get in touch if you have any query?

One Comment

  • Avatar Monica Forsberg says:

    I believe that the gift of self acceptance is the key to healing. Often we feel that we have to hold onto harmful images of ourselves. When we learn that we don’t have to tightly clutch those images to our chests, we learn that it is okay to accept ourselves, love ourselves just as we are, right where we are, we can release our hold on those images and begin the journey of enjoying who we are, of being.