I love the word Embrace.  The definition means an act of accepting or supporting something willingly or enthusiastically. 

It’s also an essential part of the SABER flow. 

Embrace is something you may be tempted to skip over as you move through the SABER process. Why? Because it can feel selfish, or self-serving. It can also be difficult to accept the circumstances in front of you. So why is it important to support yourself willingly or with enthusiasm at this stage of SABER? 

Let’s review the steps leading up to Embrace. 

When you find yourself in a power struggle or experiencing inner mind chatter, an urge, or trigger, say STOP out loud. This will allow you a moment to pause the thinking in your mind. 

Once you successfully stop the thinking, it’s time to Acknowledge your thoughts by shining a light on them.

Now that you see the thinking clearly, it’s time to bring calm into your body and mind through breath. By deep, controlled breathing, you will move into a parasympathetic state, one of rest and digest. By performing a simple breathing technique, you will feel calmer, and ready to embrace the moment. 

It might help you to think of Embrace as self grace, and understanding that you are a perfect human that experiences emotions and thoughts that sometimes don’t feel good. 

It’s not always easy to acknowledge and accept the circumstances in front of you. As a matter of fact, it can feel quite uncomfortable. 

It’s okay. 

Remember, Embrace is Self Grace

Most of us have never been taught how to FEEL our emotions, and to sit with them. We’ve been told to pretend everything is fine and to “just be positive”. That can feel so wrong when we have thoughts that are conflicting and incongruent with one another.  

If you recall my experience from the previous videos when I was in the grocery store, I stopped the temptation of desiring the Chardonnay, I acknowledged my thinking for what it truly was. I took deliberate breaths to calm myself down. I then gave self-recognition of the work I was doing in the moment. I could see the emotions that I was feeling didn’t feel good to me. I was struggling with them, and knew it was a normal response. I also said a mini prayer. Simply said, I willingly accepted where I was at that moment and gave myself the grace that I deserved. 

Embrace isn’t selfish or self-serving. It’s a necessary part of the SABER flow. 

Next, we will focus on the last step, the R in SABER – Redirect. 

If you haven’t done so already, you can download the book chapter that features the SABER titled, Living in the Gray – A Power Struggle Within. Find it under the My Story tab, How I Cope.