How to Be Accepting of What the Mind Says

We create a persona in image that we present to the world, to ourselves. I saw this very clearly on my early retreats with Upanjita. When I saw how difficult it was for me to simply go in and give a completely straightforward report because there was this deep feeling of wanting some kind of approval. Of course, this was all misguided because my reference point was what I thought would be acceptable. But as my practice went on, I became more and more comfortable with a wider range of experience, even the unpleasant, uncomfortable, unlikable parts. And it just became so much easier to simply be accepting of whatever the mind said, whatever the emotion might happen to be.