Ponderings (January 2008) - “ACCEPT”

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary …

Accept is “to receive willingly; to be able or designed to take or hold; to give admittance or approval to; to endure without protest or reaction; to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable; to recognize as true”

Sharing my thoughts …

Accepting ourselves, warts and all, can be a real challenge.  How often do you find yourself fussing about one of your traits, or a situation that you are in, wishing it were different?  Accepting things as they currently are doesn’t mean that you hopelessly give up and do nothing.  Rather accepting things as they are, at this moment, gives you the power to face your situation honestly and assess whether this is something you can or even want to change.  It allows a space for solutions to appear.  Whereas, resisting or condemning things that you deem as unacceptable is a waste of energy leading to frustration, dissatisfaction and a lack of creative solutions.  Who needs this?!!  What do you need to accept?

Questions to ponder …

1. How do you know when it’s best to change things?
2. How do you know when is it best to accept things as they are?
3. What is hard to accept about yourself, your situation and/or others?
4. How does it feel to be around someone who accepts you as you are?
5. How does it feel to be around someone who criticizes you as you are?
6. Pay attention to your self-talk this week.  Is it accepting or condemning?
7. How can you change negative self talk to accepting and empowering talk?
8. What do you experience when you attempt to change something you accept?
9. What do you experience when you attempt to change something you condemn?
10. How can you accept yourself, others and your current situation “as is” at this moment?

Related quotes …

We cannot change anything until we accept it.  Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.  [Carl Gustav Jung]

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.  [Reinhold Niebuhr]

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.  [Albert Einstein]

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything.  You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.  [Henry Kissinger]

First ask yourself:  What is the worst that can happen?  Then prepare to accept it.  Then proceed to improve on the worst.  [Dale Carnegie]