Today's
Meditation:
I've spent so much of my life trying to make things happen
the ways I thought they should happen--or hoped they would
happen--that I haven't been
able to simply accept the ways that things are and let
them be that way, and deal with them as they are.
That is, until relatively recently. In the last few
years, I've finally learned to just accept life the way it
is and work within its parameters rather than trying to
make life be what I've thought it should be. One of
the most important things that I've learned is that
there's no way that I can change or improve anything in my
life until I accept things just the way they are, and then
work from there.
Accepting the bad and the beautiful does not mean that I
simply resign myself to being completely passive and not
trying to improve things in my life. Acceptance
compels me to face things just as they are rather than deny that certain things are certain ways. Life
does as it will, and other people do as they will, and
it's up to me to accept all that with a sense of
equanimity so that I can deal with what I need to deal
with. If I get a sickness, I need to accept that I'm
sick if I'm going to treat the illness. If a loved
one dies, I need to accept the death if I'm going to be
able to deal with it effectively. If I win a million
dollars, I need to accept the win and the newfound wealth
if I'm going to be able to take advantage of it.
Life is as it is, and denying the reality in the hopes of
avoiding having to deal with it is a strategy that's
doomed to failure. When I accept life and all that
it has to give me, I can give myself a chance to deal with
things effectively. And it's important to accept
life and to be able to deal with life effectively if I
want to give myself a chance to be truly happy.
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