Radical Self Acceptance

Why It Matters

You are a puzzle. Even to yourself most days.

Why are you the way you are?

What should you try to change about yourself to become the person you want to be?

These are the types of questions you either think about way too much (all the time), or not at all (in that magical state of flow).

Whether you are in the doom loop of thinking too much or the state of flow with no time to reflect, there is something about yourself that you are trying to keep hidden.

Some part of you that you fear others will reject. Some quirk. Some dream. Something surface level or something deep down.

What is the barrier standing between you and letting that part of you be celebrated?

The Resistor

The Three Horsemen 🤔

Fear. Shame. Doubt. These are the three horsemen. We all want to be accepted. We all want to feel like we belong. But these horsemen hold us back.

Here’s the truth. You do belong. But where you belong may be different than where you think you should belong. To become you is a lifelong commitment to finding that place.

The community may be small but they will accept you as you are.

Quirks, dreams, and all.

A Signal Path

The Unsilenced Song

From an early age Hildegard of Bingen experienced powerful visions that she kept secret.

She went on to become one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, and the most recorded in modern history.

She first saw "The Shade of the Living Light" at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was having visions. She used the term 'visio' ( Latin for "vision") to describe her experience and soon realized that it was a gift that she could not explain to others.

At the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear." Still hesitant, Hildegard became physically ill. In her first work, Scivias ("Know the Ways"), Hildegard described her struggle:

“But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct… I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years.”

After Scivias, Hildegard fought for independence from the monastery to establish her own convent. Soon she founded a new monastery at Rupertsberg and began to share her revelations more publicly, even confronting corruption in the Church.

As she attracted wider attention, Hildegard faced skepticism from traditional clerics who questioned the source of her revelations. At a Church council, she defended her God-given gift despite accusations of heresy. Her steadfast faith and conviction swayed the council to accept the divine origins of her work.

Though Hildegard faced opposition, she persevered in recording her visions, composing soaring spiritual music, writing scientific treatises, and corresponding boldly with popes and kings.

After her death, Hildegard came to be venerated as a saint and revered mystic. Centuries later, she was officially declared a Doctor of the Church - a recognition of the spiritual insights that she first heard echoing from the divine.

Three Cats

Learn more about the three cats ​here​.

Switch to Action

“You are your best thing.”

― Tony Morrison

Go Deeper

​Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias by Hildegard of Bingen (Author), Mother Columba Hart (Translator), Jane Bishop (Translator), Caroline Walker Bynum (Preface), Barbara Newman (Introduction)​

1 Books I like on this idea:

• ​Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha ​​by Tara Brach​

Looking for other ways to seek discomfort? Try the Resiliter Creative Cards