Hi, this is K-Songa and I welcome you this Wednesday to Radio Headspace.

As I previously mentioned, for the first few days of this new year, I will be discussing

the concepts of mindfulness and how they may relate to any new year's resolutions you

may have. Today, I will be discussing the ever-important concept of acceptance.

Acceptance simply means seeing things as they actually are in the present and doing so without

judgment. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to like what's present, but not liking

something and harshly judging something are really two different things. Harsely judging

yourself or being too self-critical are key elements to resistance and the more resistance

that's present, the harder it will be to make any of the changes that you want in your

life. Any change that you want to make happen always starts with acceptance. So, with any

change that you want to occur, you have to first be aware of and accept things as they

are right now in the present moment. This reminds me of an incident that occurred a few

winters ago when I refused to admit that I was sick. One thing I absolutely dread is

catching a cold. The way it incapacitates you so that you're not able to get anything

done. On this particular day, I woke up feeling the scratchy throat and the headache, all

the symptoms of having caught a cold. I refused to accept that I was indeed sick and my

day was miserable. I was sneezing, coughing, my headache was a 10 and the irony is I didn't

want to admit I was sick because I had work to get done. But in my miserable state, no

work was getting done anyway. I finally admitted that I was sick and allowed myself to get

to bed and get some rest. And without fail, every time I get in the bed when I'm sick,

it feels absolutely marvelous. And I always think to myself, I should have just done this

from the very beginning. If I would have just accepted that I was sick, then the change

...