Hi everyone and welcome to the guided meditations with Marcus Aurelius. I'm your host, John Stillman. This episode is a nighttime episode about acceptance and complaining for those that are interested in increasing acceptance of things they cannot control and complaining less. If you're new to the podcast, a nighttime episode is meant for you to listen to right before you go to sleep as opposed to in the morning or in the middle of the day. If you want to listen to the acceptance episode and get on with your day afterwards, you want the daytime 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 going to put some definition on 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've 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 listen, you may notice that your mind is already doing what it does. Making sense of things in a logical way. There's nothing mysterious or complicated happening here. We're a leaf. This is floating sequence. One step leading naturally to follow every 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 is tone. Notice that you're hearing words. Perhaps notice you become aware of the body. And notice that understanding happens automatically. Without effort. Without effort. That's how your mind works. Without instruction. Now, consider the simple fact of settling when your body still snowfalling. The mind has fewer variables to bring 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 now. Longer pauses between thoughts. In the rolling sense of completion as its own natural rhythm. It's not something you need to control. Creating a simply the natural outpeat. Your shit 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 I can simply be just like breathing. Colours follows rules too. Or textures. Muscles that are not released of safety and comfort that are not required but doesn't need work into the background. Your mind is recognized. And efficiency feels take its place now or not. You may find it interesting because to me, even 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 shape. You are safe. In dissolving. You are in control. And you are simply allowing a temporary shift in attention. Nothing is being forced. There's no need. In fact, awareness beneath you more precisely knows how to support. You may notice that time feels slightly different. Knows how to carry sound faster, more steel. Your mind just less important. Out to sync and as gently sentence completes itself. There's some people notice 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, everything is functioning exactly as it should. And allow yourself to drift to continue. 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. 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 physical, 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. Four slowing three less effort, more comfort two almost no need to think at all. And 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. Events themselves are neutral. 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. See yourself separating those clearly. 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 this experience can begin to gently complete itself. Nothing needs to change very much. Just a small shift, enough to notice the present moment while still remaining wonderfully relaxed. Everything that's been helpful can remain quietly in place, continuing to work on its own without effort or attention. Just allow awareness to float slightly closer to the surface. You may notice the space around you in a soft, distant way. Not sharply, just enough to recognize where you are. In a moment, there will be a simple choice to reach out to turn off the podcast and then let go back to sleep again. There's no rush. And after the podcast ends, there's nothing else to listen for, nothing to follow. You can simply rest, drift, and sleep deeply and comfortably as your mind and body continue to settle on their own. A gentle lifting of awareness, like drifting closer to the edge of sleep. Two, just enough alertness to do what you need to do. And nothing more. Three. And as soon as you do, you can allow yourself to think right back into sleep. I will talk to you again soon.