“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.”
– The Serenity Prayer
Acceptance is the conscious choice to experience life as-it-is, and to flow with what’s happening. It’s a ‘universal’ practice that can help you in many ways;
- Accepting the here and now without judgement allows you to be mindful.
- Relinquishing the ego’s control and accepting the flow of the universe (or surrendering to the God of your understanding) allows you to realise the deepest awareness of who and what you are.
- Accepting extreme challenges such as chronic illness, accidents, loss of a loved one, addiction (and many others) is a sure path to learning, healing and growth.
- At times, humbly accepting you don’t know the answer creates a space for new awareness and inner-knowing to germinate.
- Allowing deeper levels of consciousness to guide increases creativity and universal connection.
HANDING IT OVER
No matter how smart your ego believes it is, you cannot simply sail through life avoiding each and every problem and difficulty. At some point, it hits the fan, most often this happens when we are faced with the unexpected; anxiety, accident, trauma, shock, illness or loss. However, when painful life-changing events such as these occur, there is a choice.
In the physical realm, if you want to resist something, you fight it, or run away and escape. However, when dealing with the realm of the mind, the most beneficial approach is to accept what is from a space of acceptance and not-knowing.
When we relinquish the ego’s desire to know and control everything, we enter a state of acceptance, or what is called in Buddhism ‘not-knowing’, and it’s in this mind-space where original and unknown potentials open up. For example, in order to find the answer to a personal quandary, rather than forcing a response, begin by admitting you don’t know. Rather than getting lost in the ego’s belief you already know, this humble act of admission opens the door to a plethora of opportunities.
Try it. The next time you’re faced with an important question or doubt, rather than getting lost in spirals of insecurity and needless worries, take a step back and shift your question to the depths of consciousness. Accept you don’t actually know the answer, plant the question like a seed, and let it go. This gardening of the mind allows the response to bud and blossom authentically, and appear when it’s ripe and ready. It’s possible because there is a vast form of intelligence embedded in the depths of your being.
Humankind has used this process practically, creatively and spiritually for millennia, and it really does work. Results can be spontaneous, or may take weeks, months, or even years to come to fruition. One thing’s for sure, using this inner approach, when the answer does appear, it will be the right one for you.
So have the humility to admit when you don’t know, trust the Universe, hand it over to Life, and you will get back what you need, for there is something greater than us all, which is uncovered when we realise our innermost selves.
WAVES, STORMS & THE OCEAN
Imagine you are an ocean. Sometimes there are high winds, immense waves and huge storms, but it’s only when these die down (when you return to being centred and calm) that you remember you are the ocean and not the wave. The wave has been and gone, but the ocean remains ever-present.
So, although at times you may experience life as a wave, in the depths, you are always the ocean.
When you are aware of your next storm, you can take action to slow things down. Give you breath you full attention and relax. Notice how you are not consciously trying to breathe, for Life is breathing you. Enjoy this sacred universal gift, and appreciate the joy of being, reconnecting with the ocean of Life itself. This simple technique is not only how you return to presence, but the key to recognising, realising and actualising on many levels.
When the next storm hits (and sorry to say it will, because storms are natural) then allow yourself to accept what is happening, and take the necessary steps to slow things down. Remember the ocean. Remember your innermost self. Rest as the ocean and allow the waves to pass.
THE PARADOX OF INNER & OUTER BEING
It’s only the movement of our busy minds which prevents us from recognising this ocean of permanent, infinite being.
Once we recognise the ocean is permanent, we begin to realise the paradoxes of human awareness;
- Change is constant.
- Acceptance creates space in individual consciousness for healing, growth and change.
- Surrender allows you to overcome.
- Admitting you don’t know unlocks unknown dimensions of ‘new’ knowledge.
- Giving leads to immeasurable gain.
- To act as a universal being, first do nothing.
- The entire universe is within you.
- You are already whole, nothing’s missing.
- Existence appears in countless forms, while also being the one essence.
- You are seeking what you already are.
- We are time bound, infinite and limitless!
Acceptance is a magical key to limitless possibilities because it brings individual consciousness into alignment with the universal nature of existence, the oneness of Life.
Article by More to Life Elder – Jonathan Harrison
Article published in More to Life – Edition 64
