Acceptance

Acceptance is the ability to deal with something, someone or a situation, which is often negative, in a positive way, without attempting to change the outcome. It is when you decide NOT to take action, or try to change something or someone, or an outcome.  It is accepting what is.

This level of self-awareness is achievable for everyone through regular Meditation. As we quieten at the deep level only Meditation offers, we develop acceptance and create within ourselves a peace of mind which enhances our emotional wellbeing, providing perspective and balance. 

It can happen that we are faced with sudden life-changing event, perhaps a long-term or terminal illness, disability, redundancy, financial loss or the break up of a relationship or friendship or a bereavement. This can produce despair, anger, upset, sadness, frustration, resentment and feelings of hopelessness and impotence. Yet the soul-quietening of regular Meditation provides the tool with which to develop acceptance and by doing this we forge a better, happier and less tortuous journey through life.

We live in an era of instant gratification and knee-jerk reaction. We seek perfection and we want everything faster, whether in material things, in ourselves, in our work, in our colleagues and in our nearest and dearest! This is not surprising given the pace of life today and the resources at our disposal. As a result, we are impatient with ourselves and others. We have become dismissive of anyone who doesn’t measure up, or in fact, if we don’t measure up, to our self-imposed exacting standards! In many respects, 21st Century living has a lot to answer for, yet it is possible to achieve sound emotional equilibrium when we bring Meditation as a practice into our lives.

Due to modern life, most of us are less tolerant and ultra-critical, as much with ourselves as with others.  We are more impatient and quicker to reach boiling point, jump to the wrong conclusions and react where we ought not. Many relationships, personal and otherwise, are suffering as a direct result.

We all have acceptance at our core and all the rest – the stuff of our complicated and cluttered lives – are just layers of experiences and reactions we have carefully laid on top.  If we think we have no choice and that this, today, IS how our lives must remain, we are wrong! There is a way to make changes.  Meditation affords us a way to shift our mindset. By becoming quietened, more grounded and balanced, we gain unique clarity, and this allows us to peal back the layers of the judgemental, critical and anxious and hopeless mind. Meditation, with its ability to quieten us at soul level, which is where the ‘work’ happens, gives us the space to re-gain the key skills we were born with. Acceptance is healthy and it allows change to happen naturally.

Do not however confuse acceptance with complacence. Once we have explored this, we can question ourselves: is it something we can change? Is it worth changing? Do we really need to be in control of this? Are our reactions over the top? 

Here below are some things which we could further develop:

Acceptance does not mean that we should allow or condone anti-social or unacceptable and unhelpful behaviour towards us or others, or by us towards others, yet we should learn that there are things we cannot change or are not meant to change, both in our lives and in the lives of people around us and often in ourselves. There are many things which may not fit our vision of our lives or ourselves, but which are part of life’s journey.

Therefore, what is the point of rucking against the unchangeable and inevitable? Paddling upstream in this way causes heartache and wasted energy and certainly does not change the outcome.

To reiterate, acceptance does not mean being or becoming complacent. It means that there are certain things in everyone’s lives which are facts, whether in our current situation, our environment, the people in our lives, our temperament or our physical/psychological/emotional makeup.

With the development of your innate skills of ‘acceptance’ achieved through Meditation, comes quietening and strengthening at soul level, which allows you to have clarity of thought, become more discerning and intuitive, more measured and balanced. You will also acquire the ability to accept change, be accepting of others and, most important of all, you will quieten the self-critic and become more accepting of yourself.