The Challenge of Acceptance

Have you ever set your heart on something, only to end up with nothing or some end result that you didn't want? In some cases, it's easy to brush off. In others, especially if you are particularly attached, it can be heart breaking.

Lately, I've been thinking about many things. There are many inevitables out there. Sooner or later, we will die as will our loved ones. Flowers die. Animals die. Our bodies age (regardless of surgery to enhance appearance). There are certain things and foods that nurture our bodies, and certain things that make us ill. Some things, we can heal. Others, there are other factors involved. These things happen, so why is accepting them so hard for some?

There are people who encourage us to create our own realities, and that anything is possible. And, to some extent this is true. But does creating our own reality really mean creating what our ego wants, and is this a good thing?

The movie The Secret promotes that you can have anything you want. I used to think that this was a fabulous idea. I'd planned out just how my life was going to be. I listened to what I thought was my "intuition". I was visualizing it - and darn it - it was going to happen that way!

And then one day, things got derailed and didn't quite go as I'd hoped or expected. Suddenly, I was filled with doubt, anger, and frustration. How can this be? What about creating my own reality? What about mind over matter? What about ------????

What if I just accepted what was occurring, and dealt with it, instead of getting upset over things out of my control? What if, there was a bigger purpose that I wasn't aware of? And, does it matter if there was a purpose or not? Things happen.

Sometimes, life throws us a curve ball. It would be grand if everything could be created to fit the wants of the ego, but where would be the opportunities we hadn't thought of for ourselves? The chance to grow, the chance to accept what is happening - especially if we don't want it?

Lately, I've been considering what would happen if I started to be more accepting of things. I've been finding the conversations with Eckhart Tolle and Oprah particularly fitting into this.