Honest Acceptance
This week we focus on the concept of “The Dark Side”. Today’s MotD reminds us that honesty is the best policy especially when it comes to looking into our dark side. Per Melody Beattie: “There may be parts of yourself that you want to change, but honest acceptance is how change begins.”
She further states:
“You are not your behaviors. You are not your emotions. Your behaviors are what you do; your emotions are what you feel. Each day, pause for a moment. Ask yourself what you’re really feeling. If you’re not sure, listen to the tone of your voice and your thoughts. Those are good clues.”
Journaling our answers is one way we can get it out of our heads. Or talking to someone we feel safe around about what we’re feeling, what we’re thinking, what we’re struggling with at the moment. It helps to take the pressure off as well as allowing ourselves to actually hear these things out loud or see on a written page. Either way, putting it out in front of us makes it easier for us to objectively look at and honestly accept what we had been making unaccessible to ourselves.
Just today, in a group zoom meeting, I consciously chose, out loud, to accept that I am like my father; that my self-sabotaging behavior (procrastination, being overly defensive, etc) is triggered by my intense fear of being wrong or being made to feel like I’m stupid.
I’ve been aware of this about myself for over 20 years and have stuffed it down whenever it has popped up. Today, however, I’m ready to accept that if I want to live my best life, I need to accept this part of me so that I can transform it.
The good news: once we can honestly face what we thought of as unacceptable (for me: Ack! I’m just like my father!), it then gives us the option to change it—otherwise we end up staying in a perpetual state of denial and self-sabotage. How’s that working for us?
How about you? In exploring your “dark side”, are you able to honestly accept the parts of yourself you’ve been hiding away? Can you be honest about your thoughts and feelings?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 