The Ok-Ness Of It All

Yesterday, I was doing a bit of my own personal reflection while working on "The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook" by Kristin Neff, PhD & Chris Germer, PhD. 

I was on Chapter 10 - 'Loving-Kindness for Ourselves' - taking a moment to reflect on what I needed to hear in terms of phrases for myself and it hit home for me that most times, I just want to be validated that I'm OK, that I will be OK.

I came up with three phases that hit home for me which all included the word 'OK": "May I be OK as I am."  "May I begin to feel OK about myself." And a super simple one that I like that feels super validating is, "It's OK, I'm OK." 

 I thought about it + then meditated to one of Jeff Warren's meditation on YouTube. If you haven't heard of this awesome Canadian author & bonafide MacGyver meditation teacher, go check him out at the link below.



After that practice of sitting + doing nothing (that's what he teaches + I absolutely love it!), it really helped me to clarify why needing to hear that I'm OK is validating to my needs. 

When I think of the word 'OK' in the context of my loving-kindness phrases, it feels welcoming + warm. There's a level of honest affection. Of a sense of acceptance that being OK is enough. 

While the word 'OK' may appear passive or neutral in everyday lexicon. That word in the context of my personal loving-kindness phrases: "May I be OK as I am." "May I begin to feel OK about myself." "It's OK, I'm OK" denotes acceptance of myself as I am in the current moment. 

And isn't acceptance one of the hardest things to come by? Especially in how we relate to ourselves as we really are?

There's this theme that I see in social media feeds that imply that happiness, joy, smiling all the freaking time are the ultimate feelings we need to aspire by. I get it, most people want to be happy + free from discomfort + suffering. I do not in any way discount that. But when you're bombarded with these images all the freaking time  + you aren't happy every single day, there's this sense that you might be a freak or failing in some way. 

 To me, the word 'OK' is a welcome balm in a world full of 'happy-happy joy-joy' images + messages that don't actually truly + realistically reflect the myriad of emotions we feel as humans. 

 Being OK as I am, right now, in this moment is enough and I'm cool with that. 
Yoda Being OK



 

 

 

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