Man floating on back in water (Philippines) - Present-moment acceptance of waking-up-ness

PRESENT-MOMENT ACCEPTANCE AND WAKING-UP-NESS: Notice yourself as a spiritual being in the here and now

Last updated: April 9th, 2019

Life is unconditional acceptance


A n alignment with the present moment allows us to feel the neutrality of stillness, the peace within and the possibility of being in a place of complete acceptance of what is.

Yet, in fact, we already have acceptance of what is. It’s already here. It happened, it’s happening and life as we experience it has already been accepted. If you want to “do” acceptance, you’re too late, for acceptance has already “done” it.

Life is unconditional acceptance. There’s nothing that has happened or is happening that hasn’t been or isn’t accepted. You can agree or you can argue with what is, what has happened or is happening, but regardless of your relationship with acceptance, whatever you decide is and always will be accepted by acceptance.

We live in a world of unconditional acceptance of what is. There’s no escape from that. Your acceptance is accepted and your non-acceptance is accepted. Acceptance is done.

Acceptance and the present moment


The present moment and acceptance are one and the same. The present moment is the aliveness of acceptance.

We have no control over the existence of acceptance and the present moment. We can’t make acceptance or the present moment go away, or change either of them. We can’t get out of the present moment or turn the underlying acceptance of life into non-acceptance.

What we can do is connect with the acceptance of this moment. We can sense it, feel it and know it. We can experience its profound depths.

This present moment and the acceptance of it is an unseen, never-changing permanence. It’s the backdrop, the collective; it’s universal. It’s the unconditional acceptance of what is. It is.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]We can literally wake up to reality just by aligning ourselves with the stillness and acceptance of the present moment as it is. [/su_pullquote]

We can align ourselves with the present moment by tuning in and becoming aware of ourselves and our experience in the now. Whether we connect with it or not, stillness and presence is always here as a permanent place of peace and tranquillity, accepting all that is.

It’s amazing that we can consciously connect with and become aware of that. We can literally wake up to reality just by aligning ourselves with the stillness and acceptance of the present moment as it is. This is beyond individuality; it’s universal oneness. It’s not me, yet it’s me. It’s the me that’s you, the you that’s me, the me and you that are everything and nothing. It’s not a separate me. It’s “no” me and “everything” me at the same time.

You are the present moment


Line of happy people jumping up and down in shallow water - Present-moment acceptance of waking-up-ness
The present moment and acceptance have nothing to do with you, for they are you. You’re already accepted as you are in this precise moment. That’s a done deal.

We can learn to be with it, the present moment, and we can choose to accept acceptance, yet we’re also individuals with our unique and separate experiences and perspectives. Now, we’re also talking about movement and change, choices, opinions, preferences, wishes and desires, opposites and duality.

We experience negative and positive thoughts and feelings. We love and hate, we feel good and we feel terrible. We experience gratitude and envy, contentment and dissatisfaction, happiness and sadness, and so on. I just can’t help but want what is to feel fantastic; to be full of positive energy, enthusiasm and passion. I want to feel contented and happy.

Acceptance comes without promises and has no attachment to the past or the future. It only asks that we accept this moment exactly as it is right now. That’s all, no more and no less than that. This prompts the question, should we accept what is—both the negative and the positive—or should we reject the negative and try to change it into something more positive?

I can’t keep my eyes “open” for long


In my experience, there continues to be a me here wanting this and not wanting that, a me I can’t deny. I prefer positive feelings and thoughts over negative ones. This individual me isn’t neutral, and I want more and not less.

It appears as if I’m mostly an individual me who happens to frequently open my eyes to present-moment reality, but I can never keep them open for long. They shut again, and then I sleep and dream my story of me dreaming the story of my life. I go along with this, for what else is there to do? I like this and don’t like that, and I want this and not that—that’s me.

I want to be awake to reality, to observe and be with what is without preferences, yet I also want to feel good and have a wonderful life. I want to have my cake and eat it, too, and perhaps we all can.

Simultaneously awake and asleep


Perhaps, instead of being in a wake-sleep cycle, we’re simultaneously awake and asleep or, in other words, spiritual and human. Perhaps we’re waking up slowly and each human is noticing themselves, more and more, as a spiritual being. Perhaps you and I are in a gradual process of waking up into a new consciousness, a permanent and unending opening.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Perhaps, instead of being in a wake-sleep cycle, we’re simultaneously awake and asleep or, in other words, spiritual and human.[/su_pullquote]

We may be forever and always waking up, never quite asleep and not fully awake, but what matters is our alignment with the acceptance of the present moment as it is, however it is. With that, there’s no waking up or staying asleep, there’s just this moment and our experience of it.

Think of yourself right on the edge of waking up. Can you feel it, sense it, that almost-there feeling—right on the edge? You’re about to wake up, about to go beyond the edge into the unknown of conscious wakefulness. Close your eyes for a moment and be with that sense of being so very close to the edge and about to jump or fall off.

Now, connect with this: There’s no edge.

There’s only the possibility for you to connect with the present moment and align yourself with the acceptance of what is. Both are already here, now. You can’t invent them, but you can discover or rediscover them again and again. It’s always possible to remember that in this precise moment, you and all things are already accepted exactly as they are, as you are. There’s no other possibility.

Perhaps we’re in the permanent process of waking up: permanent waking-up-ness. It can feel freeing to be with that, the acceptance of being with where you are and how you are. You’re neither awake nor asleep. You’re in waking-up-ness and the sense of “almost, but not quite there yet” may never change.

I first became aware of present-moment reality and the acceptance of what is many years ago, and since then, I’ve been in waking-up-ness. I may live out the rest of my life in this process of waking up.

Perhaps it began much earlier than I thought. Perhaps I was born into waking-up-ness. Perhaps it began before my birth. Perhaps waking-up-ness is eternal, and together, we’re waking up. Perhaps we’re all in the same “waking-up boat” and there’s no other boat.

But what if there’s no such thing as waking up?


Man floating on back in water (Philippines) - Present-moment acceptance of waking-up-ness
Alternatively, there may be no such thing as waking up. Perhaps there’s only present-moment experience and our alignment with the acceptance of the way the present moment is. I can feel a sense of peace when there’s nothing to do about it and nowhere to go.

We’ve arrived. We’ve made it. We’re waking up (or not) and the process of doing so is without beginning or end. There’s no finish line. We can’t go back to the not-knowing of asleep-ness, but we’ll never wake up in a future that will never happen.

I’m in the not-asleep, not-awake, “now” club of waking-up-ness. Waking-up-ness is a not-knowing that’s alive and curious, open and conscious. It’s watching and waiting, being responsive and active. It’s trusting that the next moment will follow this one and allowing it to come.

Come and join me in waking-up-ness and let’s stay forever, floating on the sea of present-moment acceptance of what is. It’s already here, you know.

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image 1: Pixabay; image 2: Jim Fischer via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons BY)