I know what you’re thinking: nothing new here – I’ve heard that word ‘acceptance’ before a thousand times already. There is little point in rambling on further…

… I know I should accept myself, accept others, accept the world for what it is, and just get on with things in a state of perfect bliss.

Well, sure!

But why not entertain me a little further? Perhaps there are more simple, more realistic subjects at hand here after all…

I suspect that ACCEPTANCE, actually, might be boiled down to a few simple sentences; sentences that speak of the humble nature of reality (or the ‘reality of nature’, depending how you like to put it).

Try saying these words to yourself a few times, or even writing them down:

1)      Absolutely everything changes. What is here now will not be here forever.

2)      I will die, and so will everybody in this world that I know and love.

3)      I do not know, can not know, and will never know, exactly why I am alive; what the purpose is for living.

How does it feel? Does it invite something new into the mind, the heart and/or the body?

Is it uncomfortable? Joyful? Relaxing? Stressful? Hilarious? Mundane?

Perhaps a combination of things…

And does it invite some form of action? Do you all of a sudden wish to call your parents? To eat something? To drink a beer? To sleep? To take a walk? To create something?

This my dear is acceptance: accepting the basic, core nature of things. And equally to accept everything (and I mean everything) that stems from that.

Drinking a glass of wine doesn’t make you an alcoholic, just as running a marathon doesn’t make you a ‘runner’. Hurting someone’s feelings doesn’t make you a bad person, or any kind of person in fact. And just because you took 3 naps today it doesn’t mean you’re lazy.

We attach to things because we don’t accept. We hold onto identities, habits, stories and ideas because we forget that all is impermanent, or rather we don’t accept that it is so. We strive to live forever because we run from the grey hairs and wrinkles. We panic and fear not knowing our purpose because we cannot accept, cannot enjoy or revel in our pointlessness.

Life is a celebration. It is a show designed to destroy itself slowly (or quickly) over time. Roughly one third of the neurons in the human body have seemingly no purpose whatsoever! It’s true…

So what if we made this a daily practice, as they do in Bhutan, to talk of our own death; to share openly our mortality, to enjoy it, worship it, make love to it…

Pray. Write. Have a conversation. Meditate. Take a silent walk. Paint. Dance.

Whatever works for you. Accept it and, in turn, accept yourself for it.

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