I’m so glad I stumbled across that quote about forgiveness yesterday, because it led me to Danielle Koepke and her Internal Acceptance Movement.
Self-acceptance has been one of my core issues and I remember, several decades ago, finding great comfort in this line from the Desiderata: “You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.”
I lived in San Francisco during that time and going to the ocean was one of my primary coping mechanisms. At one inner crisis point I found myself pondering the above quote while walking on Ocean Beach; it was a blustery, somewhat rainy January day, with virtually no other people around. This was perfect, because at one point I found myself crying and (literally) screaming back at my own negative self-talk: “I deserve to live! I have a right to be here!” It was maybe the most intense self-healing process I’d ever experienced.
Later that day one of my adult students showed up unexpectedly at my door with a planter full of beautiful white freesias and ranunculus, just beginning to blossom. Now, she lived about forty-five minutes outside of San Francisco. She didn’t have a scheduled lesson. She just “felt” to bring me these flowers. Can you imagine how that felt to me?!? Suddenly the idea that I was a child of the universe became a felt reality. I felt loved and supported by something bigger and assured that — in fact — I had a right to be here.
This is why I’m grateful to have found the Internal Acceptance Movement and why I especially resonate with their tagline of “You exist, and therefore, you matter.” I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who wouldn’t benefit from hearing those words.