Acceptance

Today, I’m writing about a subject that I’m honestly not that good about: Acceptance.

To me, acceptance means taking what is, or what happens, only and purely for what it is, and not attaching any labels to it.

For example, your car is hit by another car in a parking lot. What really happened? All that truly happened was your car was run into by another car in a parking lot. That’s it. It was an event; there was nothing truly inherently good or bad about it.

The “good” or “bad” are labels that we humans apply to events. They are judgments that we render about events. In the example of the fender bender, most of us would judge that event as bad. And, because we do that, we get irritated, frustrated, or maybe sad at the prospect of having to pay money for the repair, all because we have judged the event to be sad.

Again, the event is just an event. And, still sticking with our fender bender example, if we were to accept the fact that, “bad” or “good”, it happened, and then be done with that, we’d save ourselves a lot of anguish and hand wringing.

True acceptance of what happens would put an end to a lot of our turmoil in life. And, let me be the first to tell you that life gives us all plenty of opportunities to accept what happens. This can be from the mundane to the extreme, and everything in between.

Frankly, I do a poor job of acceptance. I’ve always believed that somehow, I can push right through things and most times, bring about an outcome that is desirable, and mainly desirable by me. But, there are times when things don’t turn out the way I want them that I rail against the outcome, fuming about what did happen versus what could’ve happened. It’s during these times that if I truly accepted what was, I’d be a lot happier.

The truth is that this is a recipe for much greater happiness in life. Accept what is. Even if you don’t “like” the outcome, just accept it, deal with it, and bring it fully into your reality. Only then can you truly work to change what can happen from that moment forward.

By railing, kicking, and screaming about an event, you waste valuable life energy. The event has happened. It’s now in your reality. Accept it for what it is, and then move on.

In this good old mundane life, as I mentioned before, we all have numerous opportunities to practice acceptance. And, if we listen hard enough, or look hard enough into our hearts, we’ll see God right there pointing the way for us.

-The Minister