By Duane Hewitt
Acceptance does not mean giving in or giving up. It means agree to, assent, approve and acquiesce. We can learn to practice acceptance regularly, on a daily basis. Such practice can ease our nerves and our very being. We might do this by learning to stop judging situations and people. Unless you see something or someone who is truly harmful and hurtful, might it not be best to remove judgmental thoughts about good and bad? Often enough, as human beings, we do not see or understand situations or people in the fullness of what they are or what they represent. Past, present, future; those things that we see and do not see; know and do not know. Does not acknowledging this lead us to accept? After all, we are only speaking of acceptance, not love or liking because these aspects might not be far off.
Now, acceptance does not mean allowing oneself, or another, to be thrown in harm’s way. We do not acquiesce to dark, negative, and potentially harmful ways. Though we might say we are trying to be non-judgmental, as intelligent beings we should still evaluate and be mindful. Acceptance does not mean throwing caution to the wind.
We can learn to accept self and we can learn to accept those in our life – including loved ones. In so doing we might analyze our thoughts and feelings, perhaps even grade those thoughts and feelings. Likewise, we should put forth the question about what we do not know and learn to accept our fallibility in such situations. And remember that acceptance can lead to new forms of action.
One concluding thought to consider: There may be an irony to self-improvement tactics and methods, when, instead, perhaps all we need do is accept.
“Instead of criticism of self and others, try acceptance.” – Duane Hewitt
Copyright 2021 Duane Hewitt
