The document discusses the concepts of awareness and acceptance, which are the first parts of the AmAre method for well-being. It defines awareness as assessing one's current situation by being conscious of how they perceive it. Acceptance is defined as accepting things that cannot be changed and how other people are. Cultivating awareness involves meditation practices, while cultivating acceptance has advantages like higher energy, lower stress, and making it easier for others to accept us. Loving-kindness meditation is presented as a way to direct love towards oneself and others.

1. Being Aware and Accepting
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2. Being Aware and Accepting:
first part of AmAre
* A – Aware and Accepting
* M – Meaningful and Motivated
* A – Active and Attentive
* R – Resilient and Respectful
* E – Eating properly and Exercising

3. Topics
Being Aware: definition
Assessing our current situation by being Aware of how we perceive
it
Cultivating our Awareness
Introduction: let’s define together Acceptance
Advantages of being Accepting
Cultivating our Acceptance: loving kindness

4. Introduction: let’s define together Awareness

5. Being aware is important because:
Through our awareness and actions, we gain the courage to
change the things we can change, the serenity to accept the
things we can't change. And the wisdom to know the
difference.

6. Being Aware of:
context
feelings
intentions
how we see things
our strengths
values
biases

7. Being Aware that:
happiness and meaning are not only an end
result which shines from far in the future; they
are attitudes and choices

8. Assessing our current situation by being
Aware of how we perceive it

9. To keep in mind
Tools described in this chapter are a way to
facilitate happiness and meaning
They are not a crystal ball, nor deterministic
We benefit from the learning process of
considering different variables, assessing
course of actions and seeing potential results
in scenarios

10. Assessing the present with
Awareness

11. Using the formula
Evaluating the different variables
Calculating the result
Interpreting the result

12. Being Aware about happiness

13. Is happiness an inside job?

14. Instead of a journey to
happiness…

15. … we are living happily our
journey

16. We are living happily our
journey

17. Can we represent happiness?

18. Using the formula
Evaluating the different variables
Calculating the result
Interpreting the result

19. Using the formula
Evaluating the different variables
Calculating the result
Interpreting the result

20. Cultivating our Awareness

21. When you wake-up in the morning, and before going to sleep,
set your alarm clock to sound after 15 minutes. Sit
comfortably, close your eyes or lower your gaze, and be
aware of your breathing. Breath in, breath out.
This is a form of meditation you can also do everywhere,
for example on the bus. Just be aware that your response-time
may be be slower right after meditation, so ensure you
meditate when it is safe to do so.

22. Being Accepting
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23. Introduction: let’s define Acceptance together

24. A definition of Being Accepting…
… of things we cannot change, which are
inevitable. Of how other people are, and
especially how we perceive them.

25. When not Being Accepting…
Acceptance often facilitates our happiness.
When it is not the case, then we can embrace
alternatives to acceptance.

26. An example of skillfull Acceptance
Situation: person A is acting not respectuflly
towards person B
A skillfull acceptance: accept person A with
his/her weaknesses, which every person has.
However, do not accept person A’s
inappropriate behaviour.

27. Being Accepting is as easy as…
Think about something you want to let go.
Put it in a bubble. The bubble starts to fly
away, until it disappears in the sky.

28. Being Accepting is the rational choice to
implement
The story we tell ourselves, about how we
should have done this or that differently, is
just holding us back. The past is gone, the
future is not here yet, the present is
everything. Let’s accept it all!

29. Advantages of being Accepting

30. Accepting the advantages…
Higher level of energy
Lower level of stress
More tenacious on what matters
Accepting other people makes easier for them
to accept us

31. Cultivating our Acceptance: loving kindness

32. What loving-kindness is:
A form of meditation
It directs love to one person, and one person’s:
Friends
Acquaintances
Problematic contacts
Everyone

33. Loving-kindness: advantages
Increases social connectedness
Reduces pain and anger in people with
chronic lower back pain
Boosts positive emotions and well-being in
life

34. Thanks to
www.dgano.com/charity.htm for the beach painting
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