Acceptance is important to our lives. More important than you think it is. It’s funny to think it out loud - but it’s something we overlook all the time. Acceptance.. I mean what does it really mean anyway? Does it mean that you are apathetic and you’ve given up - choosing just to deal with the situation? Or does it mean that perhaps you’ve chosen to accept something and have learned or formulated a way to deal with it. There is this one christian saying that says something to the efffect of asking god to give us the strength to accept the things we cannot change and the intelligence to be able to tell the difference between that which we cannot change and that which we should know…Lord give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference…that is what it says. Accepting the things I cannot change… well - that is interesting. If you accept something - what does that mean? does it always mean you are settling? Can you ever really accept something that bothers you? Also - do you ever really have a choice but to accept something? I mean - we all have to accept everything that happens to us. For example - i get worked up about everything. I get worked up about the war about the economy about religion and hate and intolerance and ignorance and every thing under the sun. Does the fact that I get worked up mean that I have not accepted it? No. It means I am human and I have feelings. I have realized something - the courage to change the things you can - is only the courage to change yourself. You really truly cannot change anyone else…it’s already hard enough to change yourself. But I think that truly - that saying is about changing oneself. I have learned that there is no real reason for me to get worked up about things.. it is alright to have an opinion and exclude any particular thing from my realm of existence. I spend so much of my time and energy just thinking about all the things in the world that i just can’t stand and can’t accept and can’t live with - that it has made me realize lately, that i don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about all of the things that I demand in my life. I am slowly but surely realizing that every single thing that i have ever dreamt of wanting… is slowly coming to fruition. And you know - i ask that i have the strength to accept everything…and realize that i can change nothing but myself. The change that I can effect in myself - is necessarily the change that will enable me to accept everything and have the wisdom and intelligence to accept and identify the things that i demand. Transcending means that you know that you have gone beyond that limit - beyond a limit that you knew and set for yourself. It’s not about measuring an ascent or descent…it’s not about accepting these things and realizing that I can’t accept others…it’s about transcending and realizing that when I change myself, that is when I have changed everything else.
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