How
'bout the time you fought with your partner's bad habit?
Remember how it bugged the tar out of you? Hey...It's your
partner! It's who they are! Was their bad habit or their
opinion or their action or their manners really bad? Or
was it just your Opinion
that they were bad?
Was it their bad habit that kept you bunched about them
and therefore disconnected from them...or was it your fighting
their habit that kept you so? Don't make me give you a hint!
When
I don't allow things to be who & what they are, I'm...
Keeping myself
bunched
Keeping them
bunched at me!
Robbing myself
of the joy of life.
Acceptance
is KEY to your joy, and is also a very misunderstood concept.
It has nothing to do with agreeing with or condoning. Acceptance
of something or someone is not about consent, approval or
permission. And it's not even about assisting, encouraging
or even Liking it!
When
I accept something, I'm simply AGREEING THAT IT IS! I'm
giving it the right in my mind to exist (as if it needs
my permission anyway!).
"What!
You want me to just roll over and play dead?"
Nope
...Acceptance has nothing to do with passivity.
Rather, it's an action. It has everything to do
with my choice to relax and be present. In fact, my acceptance
gives me the freedom and clarity to deal with it!
In
the state of acceptance I'm able to stay in the game.
I'm able to participate. I'm able to relax and let go
of my agendas, thus allowing for easy engagement or even
easy departure. Conversely my resisting prompts
me to cut off and reject.
Acceptance
brings power to my life in that it helps me approach in
earnest things that I
want to change. When I approach an old habit of mine
from a place of resistance, my tools are usually self-shaming
and guilt. But when I approach with accepting (admitting
that it IS), then my tools chosen are more from Love &
Faith. The first is born from a disgust or hatred of where
I am, the other from love for whom I'm becoming. Huge...HUGE
difference in results for me.
This
brings us to the most powerful form of acceptance... your
acceptance
of SELF. When you no longer resist how you look or
what you do or don't do or how you walk or sit or talk
or chew with a smack, then you're free to enjoy and appreciate
your own adorable self! And in that state life becomes
enjoyable as your self-acceptance sets you free to accept
& appreciate others as well. And amazingly, you'll
notice others' acceptance of you begin to follow behind
your own self-acceptance. Yeehaw!
Start
embracing the truth that YOU are who YOU are who YOU are.
Why is this so important? You'll notice a remarkable correlation
taking place as you make peace inside you about yourself
(when you accept that you are who you are and that's perfect!)...and
your ability to accept everything and everyone else. Yep,
you guessed it ...I'm suggesting that your disgruntled thoughts
about him or them or it...has much to do with your disgruntled-ness
about yourself. And conversely, as you become OK with you,
you'll naturally become OK with them.
Practice
flipping it. Notice the things and folks in your experience
that you don't accept (that you're not at peace with). Ask
yourself why. What will it cost you to give them your permission,
and even your blessing, to be what and who they are. Begin
letting go of your will for things. And then begin noticing
your rise in energy and love and creativity. You'll become
more willing to communicate & engage & entertain
possibilities.
Fall
in love with the you God created. Give Him a little credit
here! And as a natural fruit of that process make peace
with your environment. It's the most effective sleeping
aid you'll ever find...and it's free!
