Day Thirty-Six: acceptance

Word of the Day: acceptance

Image of the Day: Highland cow in snow

Token of the Day: tumbled amethyst stone

Light amethyst represents acceptance in religious jewellery, such as the Serenity Prayer (see later in this blog entry for more on this prayer) http://www.beadsbyk.com/_wsn/page3.html. It is also used for healing, power and protection; is one of the stones connected with Aries, and is connected with the seventh chakra (crown or pineal gland). It was often used for drinking vessels as it was believed to prevent drunkenness (the word amethyst comes from the Greek for without drunkenness!) and protect against poisoning.

Acceptance -
of self,
of others,
of situation/place/event.

That's the best i can do
reality bits hard
my imagination bites harder
acceptance of a bad situation
equals giving in, giving up
there are times where
non-acceptance is the key
yet there are others where acceptance
liberates and brings joy.

Life in abundance available through acceptance; understanding others is wisdom and knowing myself is enlightenment... Why is it so damned difficult to accept the obvious, that i am, you are, we are, and then simply get on with living? That's a rhetorical question by the way!

I turn to Don Miguel Ruiz, author of "The Four Agreements". These agreements are the hooks on which we should hang our life - don't make assumptions, always do your best, don't take anything personally, be impeccable with your word.

You don't need the acceptance of others. You don't need knowledge or great philosophical concepts. You have the right to be you, and you express your own divinity by being alive and by loving yourself and others.

Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them. If we try to change them this means that we don't really like them. It is easier to find someone who is already the way you want him or her to be instead of trying to change that person.

accept this -
i am not yet comfortable
in this
body, this
mind, this
world.

i will not resign myself
yet i will seek to be present
in my body,
in my mind,
in this world.

that's the best i can do
reality bites hard
(my imagination bites harder)
acceptance of a bad situation
equals giving in, giving up
there are times where non-acceptance
is the key
yet there are others
where acceptance
liberates and brings joy.

Having written that i found the following quote:

Accepting does not necessarily mean 'liking', 'enjoying', or 'condoning'. I can accept what is - and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck. [Nathaniel Branden]

Acceptance is a tricky concept, one that requires consideration and careful discerning to know whether or not it is appropriate or not. Should i accept that i'm going to die as opposed to deny that i will ever die? Well, yes it seems obvious that i should do that but should i accept i'm going to die and give up living? Probably not. That is the tricky, uneven ground that surrounds the subject of euthanasia, assisted dying. True acceptance is not a passive giving up but an active embracing of that which is.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

This prayer is attributed to St Francis of Assisi but is known by many of us as the AA Prayer. May i have these words always on my lips, in my being, engraved on my soul.