The power of acceptance

There will come times and seasons in life where almost everything seems to be taking a turn for the worst. Opportunities may not come about as you expected, feelings of being let down by people, situations and things. The pain in knowing that where you are is nowhere close to where you hoped you would be can drive anyone to the edge. But when you’ve tried almost every solution you can think of, yet the problem persists, your best option is to stop forcing those solutions onto the perceived problem and apply the power of acceptance.

Acceptance isn’t a natural reaction for most of us. When faced with challenges our learned behaviour is usually to rebel against our circumstance. We force solutions onto problems, and in the attempt to resolve them using brute force we create even more problems for oureslves. However, in most cases, the act of acceptance may be the best solution. Negative emotional charge and obsessive mental chatter are symptoms of internal resistance. Modern society has, for a long time now, characterized acceptance as a passive or ineffective character trait, especially among men. In ego driven and competitive environments, where there has been a high value placed on pushing back against any opposition and overcoming challenges by brut force. But in a lot of cases, you’ll find that these enviorments propagate a culture that leads to high rates of depression, suicide and ill health among most people that value aggression to that extent. As undervalued as the principal of acceptance has great transformative power to health, mood and overall quality of life when applied intelligently.

Needless to say there is a big difference between acceptance and resignation. Acceptance as a solution is best applied when you have clearly identified the extent and depth of the problem or challenge you face, and having a genuine resolve and commitment to address the cause. One the other hand resignation is when you have tried to forcing solutions onto the effects, you give up on the matter altogether. Genuine acceptance is characterised by optimism, mental clarity and flexibility; whereas resignation is associated with feelings of indifference, pessimism and fear.

So how do we begin to put the power of acceptance to work us? Well, you begin by keeping your intention to resolve the cause of the problem or challenge, while making a conscious decision to stop fighting the effects. If you ever seen weeds growing in a garden, you know that cutting the weeds off the top wont solve the problem. To effectively deal with them you’ll need to pluck them out at the the roots; same goes for any situation you are unhappy with. Make a commitment to address the root cause first and stop fighting the effects. As you being the journey toward full acceptance of the situation, obstacle or challenge you may be dealing with, you’ll begin to be calmer and as you do so, your ability to see through the noise will get better. This is optimal state when applying yourself to problem solving, as your thinking won’t be cluttered and your emotions wont overwhelm you as much. It’s in this state of mind that an efficient and elegant solutions will rise and present itself to you.

Remember, what you resist persists, and the moment you stop resisting and shift your attention to finding the root cause first, the solution you conceptualise will become more and more effective. When the obstacles dissolve and new possibilities for growth and develop development present themselves, it’s important to remember that smooth sailing won't last forever. But when challenges are met with acceptance, we transform them into opportunity and that's were best among us thrive, while others fall art in panic. Acceptance is the doorway to an infinity of new and exciting possibilities equality inherent in the perceived problem.

-WN