14 July 2012

ACCEPTANCE

"Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation;  it does not mean running away from the struggle.  On the contrary it means accepting it as it comes... To accept is to say yes to life in it's entirety."
~ Paul Tournier

"Today I know that I cannot control the ocean tides.  I can only go with the flow... When I struggle and try to organise the Atlantic to my specifications, I sink.  If I flail and thrash and growl and grumble, I go under.  If I let go and float, I am borne aloft."
~ Marie Stilkind



Life is very much like a river... When we go along with the current, and take things as they come, we are able to give our full attention to everything around us.  We can perceive one thing at a time, and take what we need from the river.  We are calm and peaceful enough to see the beauty on the shore.. We appreciate it... We love it.... We are grateful for our life.  We can steer ourselves in the direction that we desire to be.  We have control over our lives.  We accept every circumstance and event as a circumstance leading to something else.  We can seek and find the best in everything and everyone.

Yet, when we decide to go against the current, we struggle... We swim and swim, and often stay in the same place.  We begin to panic and thrash around.  To lash out at life for giving us such hardship and struggle.  We curse life, and fight against the river.  A fight that can never be won.  We don't have any control of the direction our lives are taking us.  This fight is really with ourselves.  We have chosen it.  We think we are only worthy of hardship and struggle.  We don't see the beauty of life passing us by on the shore... we are too absorbed in our struggle to survive.

Yes, we may hit a rock, or a tree stump in our journey down the river, but we take it for what it is.... a rock, or a tree stump.  We know that it is there for a reason... Maybe to steer us in another direction... or maybe to stop us for a while to see something that we may have missed.  There are no accidents or coincidences.  Everything happens for a reason.  A divine lesson that we must learn in order to grow and transcend to something bigger.  A step closer to our true potential.

If we don't accept the lesson that the rock or tree stump provides, we become bitter, and fight against it.. or we give up.  We complain and try to find a way to escape the lesson.  We begin to swim upstream.  We decide that we don't like downstream.. that we are not prepared to go there.  We choose the path of suffering and pain... we choose the difficult path.

The great psychologist, Carl Jung, said:  "What you resist persists."  Very profound words.  Meaning that whatever we are against, will keep coming to us, until we learn acceptance of what is.  Our lesson must be learnt, so it will keep coming back, in different ways, until we learn it, and move on.  If we avoid the lesson for too long, it will become stronger and more in our face, so that we are forced to take notice of it.

It all starts with us... We cannot change or accept anything in our reality until we learn to change and accept ourselves. 

You may ask:  How do I do that?  A great exercise is to look in the mirror, and think of one thing that you don't accept about yourself... something that you are not happy about... something you would like to change... Now ask yourself this question:  'How would my life change if I accepted and loved this thing about myself?'  Close your eyes and see yourself in the way you would like to be... doing the things that you would like to do.  Feel the sensations of happiness that you would have... Now look in the mirror again, and look deeply into your own eyes and say:  "I love and accept myself just as I am."  Say this as many times as you can.... and keep saying it all through each day.  Say thank you for your life.... say thank you for your body, mind and soul...It may be difficult at first, especially looking into your own eyes and saying these words... but it will get easier and easier as you begin to accept yourself.  You will begin to smile at yourself, and you will begin to believe what you are saying.

You will begin to see yourself with the eyes of love.  You will begin to accept others as they are... and the world as it is... You will complain less, and be grateful more often. You will begin to uncover and perceive a greatness and beauty in yourself, and the world... a beauty and greatness you could never have imagined.  Eventually this will be your default, and you will catch yourself when you begin to complain, and change it to gratitude.

Love, light and great abundance ♥