All of us have to accept a lot in life and it is often a struggle. To accept, we know, is not necessarily to like or to agree with. To accept, in my book, has at its core a willingness to be open to the truth whether we like what it is or not. Truly accepting does not have an “except” in it at all.
Accepting is something that moves. We can use the word, run, for instance, but the word, running makes us see and feel movement. Accepting is not static–once done and over. It moves and it needs to move our hearts over and over so we can develop more inner freedom.
Phrases posted on Facebook, May 2018
We do so much automatic accepting. For instance, someone gossips about someone else, and we, in an unthinking way, take it as the truth. In that moment we could learn to inwardly and silently say to ourselves, maybe so, but I don’t really know.
That statement is a profound courtesy and can; applied in countless circumstances, bring about a quiet goodness.
I don’t know about you, but I feel that constant efforts at self-improvement have a violent edge. What about accepting oneself as one is, and slowly moving towards what seems to be a good opening towards becoming more authentic?
Why is it so hard for us humans to accept really being loved? When we are fortunate enough to experience love, our warts and all will be revealed and included. We get to see ourselves as we really are and that is humbling. No wonder we have secret pockets where our self-dislike hides. We resist the disclosure that accepting love brings about.
There is so much good in the world in the very places we are despite appearances, the dreadful news and actions of people who do harm. A beautiful and sustaining thing is to accept whatever given good there is close by us. Not only does it keep our spirits up, but also there’s a spiritual law that tells us that to them that have more shall be given.
To monitor what we unconsciously accept on a daily basis is very hard internal work. In taking the time to discern what is really true for us, we become more and more conscious and more discriminating. It is the work of love.
The act of accepting is first and foremost to acknowledge that a circumstance is what it is as the saying goes. If we get stuck resisting the truth we won’t get anywhere. We’ll be stymied by thoughts that things aren’t fair and shouldn’t exist at all etc.– in other words, a morass of complaint. But once we accept things as so we are able to take more intelligent action and move on. There’s no skipping honoring what is, counter intuitive, as it may seem.
Acceptance is the first movement towards thanksgiving whether for joy or for difficulty. Acceptance has a built in knowledge that everything can be our teacher if we will let it. When we do, we are led into more inclusiveness, more wholeness, and more diversity and ultimately into gratitude.
If there is something we deeply want to experience then we need to accept small signs of it before the full measure can be lived. Here’s a metaphor. Imagine having been out to sea a long time and longing for land fall. One day you see sea birds. They are the small signs and living proof that the shore is near. It’s important to receive and rejoice in each bird. Practicing accepting this way helps the heart to open.
I find it hard to accept that by simply being alive I will add to the trash of the planet. I will eat living things. I will at some point disappoint and hurt people I care about.
The other side of the coin is that I will love and sacrifice for others. I will contribute what is mine to give. And this is true about all of us. How much paradox must be accepted in life.
