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Spirituality Is Self Improvement & Self Acceptance
Ordinarily, we tend to view spiritual endeavours and experiences as something separate from our ordinary, “mundane” lives but the truth is, the two are intimately connected. This blog post invites you to explore the intricate tapestry where personal growth intertwines seamlessly with the wisdom of the spiritual path.
We delve into the philosophy that self-improvement is not merely a worldly pursuit, but an integral facet of spiritual awakening. Simultaneously, we navigate the realms of self-acceptance, acknowledging the beauty of our authentic selves in every moment. Join me as we unravel the threads that bind these two transformative forces together, offering insights into a holistic and enlightened existence.
By Zedek Boateng
Hi, I’m Melchizedek Boateng, also known as Zedek. My spiritual journey began at 19, sparked by a sudden profound experience that led me to delve into deep meditation. Gradually increasing to two 1-hour sessions daily, I explored existential questions and realized that the deepest answers lie beyond language, found only through direct experience. Drawing from diverse traditions, I confidently distill powerful insights and transformative techniques to enrich lives with a fresh, multilayered perspective.
Self Acceptance
Being gentle with yourself and understanding your life from the “perspective” of the present moment allows you to foster high degrees of self acceptance, where you realise there are no inherent problems with anything that is taking place or ever taken place.
This is because, as you can verify for yourself right now, experience is impermeant and so there is no such need to hold onto any experiences good or bad unless you choose to. This is self acceptance. To delve into and increase your understanding of this i’ll breakdown some techniques and insights that may help you to realise that your true nature is completely acceptant.
Self Acceptance Broken Down
The mark of true acceptance is non-resistance, this means allowing your experience to unfold as it does. Neither clinging or reaching for anything. Although simple, when you practice acceptance you may find it is quite a tough task and there are also varying degrees to self acceptance. (Self acceptance can vary from affirmations to absolute knowledge that everything you do is accepted whether you “try” to accept it or not.
I put the word try in quotations because acceptance isn’t a thing you try to do, in the same way that letting go is not something you attempt to do, It is something that requires no effort, and when you try to employ some level of effort it because slightly removed from the true essence of full acceptance.
I mean, think about it, why would a full acceptance require any action to complete, If something is taking place, just by virtue of the fact that it is taking place it is accepted, otherwise it wouldn’t be happening.
However, this complete view of self acceptance can be broken down into more understandable, actionable information that can lead to the understanding I am speaking of where you know that whatever is taking place is indeed accepted.
To cultivate self-acceptance, consider weaving meditation into your daily routine. Through practices of mindfulness and self-reflection, meditation serves as a sanctuary where you can observe your thoughts without judgment, fostering a deeper understanding and acceptance of yourself. Additionally, incorporating gratitude exercises and affirmations can be powerful tools, gently guiding you towards recognizing and embracing the unique tapestry of your being. Remember, the journey to self-acceptance is an ongoing process, and each moment of mindful awareness is a step towards embracing the authenticity that defines you.
The Hardest Part Of Self Acceptance:
Being brutally honest with ourselves and still being able to move forward in good faith
For example you may have a thought about the way you treated your wife the previous week and that thought may spur an intense feeling of guilt and shame.
Now in this instance it would actually be easier to bash yourself and degrade yourself in an attempt to reconcile the “wrong-doing” that you committed anymore. You may say things like:
“I’m such a horrible husband”
or
“I just can’t be that loving husband I want to be at all times.”
But in a twisted and paradoxical way all this does is feed into the same behaviour patterns that caused you to commit that hurtful action in the same place.
The more mature and difficult thing to do would be to accept yourself, you look at yourself truthfully and brutally, you look at the facts for the facts, and you accept the way you acted. To accept yourself in such a manner is difficult because we are programmed to believe self admonishing is how we make up for bad deeds. But when we accept ourselves wholly and completely we give ourselves an excellent basis from which we can improve ourselves because we are not afraid of the wrong doings we have committed.
Self Improvement
The other half of this journey is one of improving, the aim of all humans is to reach there full potential and this is the case whether you realise it or not. Our greatest desire is to be all that we can be and in order for us to do so we need to improve ourselves. In order for us to improve we need to have a standard against which we can judge our progress, and for every individual this standard will be different. Since improvement is about becoming our best versions in order for us to do that we must know ourselves and unserstand who we are, from there we can seek to build upon that foundation and innovate upon ourselves to become peak humans.
This is includes taking up practices like meditation and self inquiry to aid us in understanding ourselves better, for example the workings of our mind, and the stimuli that triggers certain emotional reactions. If we can improve these things by becoming more aware we can shed our unnecessary layers and actualise our highest potential.
Concluding With An Important Concept - Karma Yoga
According to Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, Karma yoga is the spiritual practice of “selfless action performed for the benefit of others”. When I read this statement I see a pathway for self improvement and self acceptance. This is because in order for you to be able to perform selfless actions you must first acknowledge the work that must be done on yourself, which in turn will allow you to be less selfish, the work you do on yourself then feeds back into the world as people will be subtly influenced by your selflessness, and as such the work you do for the world will feed back into yourself, as influencing those people in such a positive way will drive you to work even more on yourself. Therefore the work you do for the world should be a vessel for self improvment, and the work you do on yourself should be a vessel to improve the world.
By working on yourself, cultivating self-awareness, and striving for personal growth, you become better equipped to contribute meaningfully to the world. The qualities you develop within yourself, such as empathy, resilience, and compassion, serve as a solid foundation for constructive engagement with the external environment.
Conversely, contributing to the well-being of others and the world at large becomes a source of fulfillment and purpose in your own life. Acts of service, kindness, and positive impact can enhance your sense of meaning and connection.
Continuous Feedback Loop:
A feedback loop is perpertuated in this dynamic relationship between self and world. As you engage in both self-improvement and contributing to the world, each aspect continuously informs and enriches the other.
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