Hi everyone and welcome to the Guided Meditations of Mark Sorelius. I am your host, John Stillman. This episode is a daytime episode about acceptance and complaining for those that are interested in increasing acceptance of things that cannot be changed and complaining less. If you're new to the podcast, the daytime episode is meant for you to listen to in the morning or in the middle of the day as opposed to right before bed. If you want to listen to the acceptance episode right before you go to bed, you'll want the nighttime episode. Before we get started, I highly recommend listening to the journal episode on acceptance if you haven't already done so. The reason for that is that it'll help you put some definition around how this topic relates to your life. Okay, let's go over some ground rules. First off, understand that this is a kind of meditation episode. This podcast is designed to help you relax to a very deep level. So you should only listen to it in a place where you would feel comfortable sleeping for at least the next 30 to 45 minutes. Do not listen to this while you are driving or sitting on a bus. Otherwise, you can potentially injure yourself or someone else, or you might miss yourself. Be mindful of whether you listen to this and pick a place that is safe for you to do so. I would also highly suggest going to the toilet before we get started because that can become a huge distraction. If you need to do that now, just hit pause and come back after you're done. Honestly, I'm always looking to improve these episodes. So if there's a particular sort of principle you would like to implement into your subcontracts in the future, let me know in the comments and I will do my best to make an episode on it going forward. So with that out of the way, let's get started. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Listen carefully to sounds that you may hear around you. Are there sounds of people? Sounds of animals? Maybe even sounds of wind or traffic. Not all of those sounds are important for you to hear while you're listening to this. Things that are alerting you of an emergency are important. But any other sounds can actually help you sink deeper into relaxation. So let those unimportant sounds drift into the background, away from your awareness, and let them help you reach deeper down into a wonderful relaxed state. The unimportant sounds fade away into background noise and let them do their job to help you relax. As you continue to relax, I'd like you to imagine your center core. The center core is different for every person, but it is wherever you feel is the center of your body. Some people believe it's in their solar plexus, and some people feel it's in their forehead. But wherever you feel is the center of your body, I'd like you to imagine that spot now. Now imagine what it might look like to pull all of your energy deep down into your center core. Whatever that might be like for you, you decide. Now imagine that you have little bits of energy in different places. You have spent time over the last twenty four hours, and imagine pulling all of that energy back from those places and pulling it deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body. And imagine floating to the wall that's in front of you. Imagine touching it and feeling the texture with your fingers. Then float back to your body and pull yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall behind you. Imagine touching the wall there. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall on your left. Imagine touching the wall there. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the wall on the right. Imagine touching the wall there. And now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating down to the floor. Perhaps to look up at yourself wonderfully relaxed. Now imagine floating back and pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. Now imagine floating up out of your body and floating to the ceiling if there is one. Or maybe ten feet into the air if there's not. Then imagine floating down back and forth like a feather. Down and down and back and forth as you slowly drift down. And imagine pulling yourself deep, deep down into your center core. And while you may notice that your mind is already doing what it is, you might notice processing information itself organizing ideas can feel soft, making sense of things in a logical way. There's nothing mysterious happening here. We're a leaf. This is floating past one step leading naturally to the sentence. You don't have to try to relax. You can let them wash over effort isn't required at all. Like warm water, your only time or smooth is noticeable that you're hearing words. Perhaps notice you become aware of your body. And notice that understanding happens automatically. Without effort. Without effort. That's how your mind works. Without instruction. Now, consider the fact of settling when your body is still snowfalling. The mind has fewer variables to memory. The ground. And when the mind has fewer variables, it becomes more efficient until everything feels more receptive. You may already observe small changes. Your breathing. Longer pauses in the roll of completion as its own natural rhythm. It's not something you need to control. Creating a simply the natural outbeat. Your breathing is a good example. Your arm. You don't calculate it all the way down. Yet it follows to your predictable rhythm. You might imagine a place where time feels wide and unhurried. Balance. Place where nothing is expected of you. Where you can simply be just like breathing. Colours made follows rules too. Or textures. Muscles that are not. Just a feeling. Release sense of safety and comfort that are not required but doesn't need work into the background. Your mind is image efficiency and efficiency feeling take its place now. Or not. You may find it interesting because to me in drifting that while one part of your mind is listening to these words, you may notice that thought another part begins. Everything being said here makes sense. You are safe. You are in control. And you are simply allowing a temporary shift in attention sky. Nothing is being forced. There's no need. Nothing is being lost. Hold on to anything. In fact, awareness beneath you more precisely knows how to support. You may notice that the time feels slightly different. Knows how to carry sound faster or slower. And your mind just less important. Oh to sync. And as a sentence completes itself, there's something to hold on to it. A pleasant heaviness. Your mind can release a lightly to the next one. That's how systems work. That's spread at a time exactly where it's needed. Without analyzing it too deeply, you just recognize this. Where nothing has to be. Your conscious mind can rest, where nothing needs fixed, everything is functioning exactly as it should be. And allow yourself to continue how the comfort continues to unfold and efficiently in its own as this process way. Now without needing to do anything at all, you can allow this experience to deepen naturally. Nothing to fix. You may begin to notice a general sense of release. No longer need to be. And that release can spread not in any particular direction, just everywhere it's welcome. Imagine slowly turning down a dial, just one small adjustment at a time, each turn softening the overall experience, making everything quieter, lower, more subtle. With each breath, you may notice a subtle shift, not dramatic, just enough to feel that you're moving further inward. There's a difference between paying attention and needing to pay attention. And right now, attention can become effortless. Thoughts don't need to stop. They can simply lose importance. Like background noise that fades as something calmer moves into the foreground. Now imagine a gentle downward movement, not physic, more like a feeling of depth. As if awareness is sinking into a softer, quieter layer of experience. Each moment builds on the last, like steps that descend so smoothly, you hardly notice moving until you realize you're already deeper. If numbers come to mind, they can drift downward now slowly, comfortably, each one marking a deeper level of ease. Almost no need to think at all. In the one simply being here. In this state, everything unnecessary has already fallen away. What remains is calm, steady and receptive. You're happy to stay right here because this level, this quiet, settled space is exactly right for whatever comes next. And you can allow yourself to rest here now comfortably, peacefully, as the work continues. Consider this now gently. There are things in your life that unfold without asking your permission. Traffic, weather, aging, other people's moods, other people's decisions, unexpected changes, delays, mistakes, misunderstandings. Life moves, and often the mind reacts, it tightens, it resists, it comments, it complains, sometimes out loud, sometimes silently. And that reaction can feel automatic. But notice something important. The resistance to them, that is where friction begins. The Stoics understood something deeply freeing. Peace does not come from shaping reality to match your preferences. Peace comes from aligning yourself with reality as it is. Acceptance is not approval. Acceptance is not weakness. Acceptance is simply the clear recognition this is what is happening. And in that clarity, something powerful becomes possible. Energy returns. Now imagine how much energy is spent each day in complaint. Complaining often feels like relief in the moment, but afterwards, it leaves heaviness. Because arguing with reality never changes reality. It only drains you. And now imagine something different. Pause. A quiet moment of awareness. Something inconvenient happens, and instead of reacting automatically, you gently ask, Is this something I can change right now? If yes, you act. If no, you accept. Not with resignation, but with steadiness. Feel the difference. Acceptance sounds like this is what's happening. I may not prefer it, but I don't need to fight it. Notice how the body softens when resistance drops. Shoulders loosen. Breathing deepens. Thoughts slow. Acceptance is not giving up. It is refusing to waste energy. It is choosing clarity over complaint. Now imagine a common situation in your life. Something small but recurring. Perhaps a delay. A repeated behavior. An inconvenience. A frustration. See it clearly. Watch the old pattern. The mental commentary beginning. Now interrupt it. Pause. Breathe. And say internally, this is what is. Can I change it? If yes, take one clear action. If no, let it be. Feel the lightness that follows. No inner argument, no protest, just presence. Now imagine a more challenging situation. A difficult conversation, a disappointment, an unexpected outcome. Notice the urge to complain, to replay, to justify, to vent internally. And now imagine something new. You recognize the urge, but you do not feed it. Instead you ask, what here requires acceptance? What here requires action? What here requires neither. You accept the facts, you choose your response, you release the rest. There is strength in that. Over time, the mind begins to learn something important. Complaining drains me. The subconscious begins to understand. I do not need to argue with reality to feel in control. I can meet it calmly. Imagine the coming days. A small irritation arises. You pause automatically. You breathe. And you ask, is this worth my peace? If action is needed, you act cleanly, without drama. If acceptance is needed, you allow it. If neither is needed, you move on. Each time you do, you feel steadier, more spacious, less reactive, more deliberate. You begin to notice something subtle. There's more room in your day, more patience, more gratitude, more focus. Because the energy once spent on complaining is now available for better things. And the mind quietly prefers this way. More clarity. More resilience. You begin to feel a quiet confidence. Whatever happens, I can meet it. I can accept what is. I can act where I can, and I can let the rest go. And that is enough. So in the coming days, notice moments of remembering. A complaint begins and softens. A resistance rises and dissolves. A situation unfolds and you meet it clearly. Simply aligned. And in that alignment there is calm. In that calm there is strength. And in that strength there is peace. And the mind learns. Acceptance is freedom. And I choose it. Now, in a moment, we'll begin the natural process of returning attention outward again. There's no hurry, just a smooth transition from inward focus to present awareness. Everything that's useful from this experience can remain easily available, integrated, settled, ready for you, and anything else can simply stay behind, no longer needed. You may begin to notice the sense of the space around you, the quality of the air, the sounds that are part of the room, the feeling of being here, now. Awareness can start to expand gently, like light increasing at dawn, not sudden, just clear and natural. In a moment, I'll count from one up to five. And with each number, alertness can return comfortably, bringing clarity, balance, and ease. One, a gentle shift outward as attention begins to re-engage. Two, energy returning at a comfortable pace, like waking from a satisfying rest. Three, clearer awareness now, present and steady. Four, feeling refreshed, oriented, and well. Five, eyes open if they've been closed, fully awake, calm, clear, and comfortably alert. Take a moment to settle. There's no remote to speak or move. Just notice how you are right now. And when you're ready, you can continue with your day, carrying this sense of steadiness and ease with you. Thanks for listening and making me a part of your stoic practice.