One of our core values at the College of Healing is flexibility and acceptance and exploration of difference. Although the scientific community strives to explain what it can about the universe, there is still a lot we do not know. In our seeking for understanding about the nature of our existence here on the planet, different people have found peace with different explanations of how we have come to be here, how everything works and what we should be doing here. In your healing journey you will consider…

How can we live and let live?
How can we exist without causing harm?
What does it truly mean to tolerate self and other?

If we can contemplate these questions and be more able to accept the language and concepts that others use to define the healing process, we can learn to be more tolerant of each other.

Being flexible and accepting difference gives us an opportunity to grow. We are all trying to work out what we are and what we should be doing. Differences in world views and cultural practices provide a wealth of perspectives on a set of conditions we all share – we are human. The human species is a collective. We are stronger when we support each other.
Acknowledging difference gives us an opportunity to change our own position and access other ideas, resources and another way of seeing things. Different ways of being and seeing things facilitates expansion. It allows us to explore other perspectives on our own realm of experience. Intolerance leads to blame and in blaming others we disempower ourselves. We can grow by asking –

What is the gap between self and other?
What learning opportunities are in that gap?
What can we lean in to in order to meet each other in that gap?

Acceptance allows us to think ‘It is what it is’, without having to feel overwhelmed, or allocating blame or judgement. It allows us to respond appropriately to what is happening, and so be more powerful in any situation we find ourselves in. Our ultimate agency lies in our ability to make choices about the quality of energy we generate.

Acceptance leads to agency, tolerance and opportunities for expansion and growth. First, we have to accept ourselves. We have to hear, embrace and include, to the best of our ability, all of those aspects of Self that we want to push away and hide because of shame, guilt or fear. Self-awareness is the pre-cursor to self-acceptance. When we accept what is present we can be involved in bringing it into balance.

The opposite to acceptance is denial. If we live in denial, we can never deal with what is in front of us because we refuse to believe it is there. If you would like the right to be where you are, you also have to acknowledge that other is where other is. We cannot try to make people be this way or that way, but we can make decisions about how we want to respond to the energy they create through their choices.

We can assess whether someone’s energy feeds us or drains us. We can make choices about how we respond to different qualities of energy. That awareness informs our choices about the actions we take. We can make choices that keep us safe and well instead of exposing ourselves to qualities of energy that do not serve us.