JamesKerti.com
Maybe real acceptance and self-love is about acknowledging that we have distinct parts of ourselves that want different, sometimes conflicting things, and each of those parts is worthy of being held with love.
And perhaps it’s the parts of us that we judge for wanting what we view as shameful or self-destructive that are most in need of being held, for those are the parts of us that are wounded.
Sometimes what we want isn’t the same thing as what wants to be for us.
I’m learning to show up to my life with more openness.
Openness to things being as they are, in no need of “fixing.” A good place to start. Acceptance.
Being open to letting go what doesn’t serve me anymore, even if it once did.
And openness to things I enjoy even now giving way in order to create space for something better than I could ever imagine.
Because I can see that all the best things that have ever come into my life were surprises.
We talk about how the ups and downs of life are ephemeral.
This honesty offers comfort as our legs tire doing the daily dance between gratitude and grief.
Less acknowledged — less fun to acknowledge — is that breakthroughs aren’t everlasting either.
Intoxicating thoughts run through our head, like:
“I’ve solved that problem in my life for good.”
“Oh, I’ve healed that old wound.”
“I forgave that person. We’re good. I can move on.”
I love this beautiful and empowering yet somewhat tortured poem from Pablo Neruda as a reminder that I’m not alone, that we’re not alone, in self-doubt and feelings of struggle.
Of feeling disconnected from ourselves.
Of feeling so far away at times in our ongoing discovery of who we are, who we’ve been, who we want to be, who we can be.
You are seen, friend. 
