Accept what you cannot change
 

I recently heard someone say this and it got me thinking.

How do we know, aside from the obvious situations, what can or cannot change? For that matter, how does one go about accepting, what you cannot change? Also, how does one know when they have accepted or not?

Acceptance means not resisting the reality of whatever presents itself in each moment. If we wish that things or people would be other than they are, then we are resisting.

This is not a state of total passivity and inaction. We can still take action to change what is. If things change, then they change. If things do not change, then they do not change. It is what it is.

We know when we have accepted by observing ourselves. If we flow through life with equanimity then we are in a state of acceptance. If we get frustrated or upset because of events or people then we are in resistance.

Peace

The full quote is something like:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

That's where I'm confused. Sometimes I wonder if there are times we should be upset when were not and accepting when we aren't.

Sometimes I think were just left to stumble through life for God's entertainment.

Be loose as a your name-sake, Flexi. :smile: Sounds like you are trying to live 'up' to some kind of 'ideal' (what you believe as being ideal). There are no 'shoulds'. Just acknowledge what is (as you see it) and honor how you decide to respond (or not) to it based on what you think the likely results (for you as well) will be as a consequence of your doing (or not doing) so.

Flexi-Girl, Every experience in life is useful for our own spiritual growth and development,
if we choose to accept every experience in life as a lesson.

If we change our attitude we can change our world, or at least our outlook on the world. In my
opinion it is not and either or situation; it is not a choice between what I can accept and what
I can not accept.

I am very familiar with what you have quoted, its called “The Serenity Prayer,” and it is all about
seeking serenity through spiritual surrender. Yes, it is more than o.k. to cry and feel upset about
certain things.

But in my opinion it is not o.k. to stay in that place of sorrow and self pity for too long, else one
might become stuck there. The saying is that it is not what life hands us rather it is how we react
to what life hands us that is most important.

Get upset, let off steam, but spend most of your time in serene peacefulness.:smile:

That's very true, because I do have ideals that I fail to live up to but there are also major problems in the world which seem impossible to solve.

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Acceptance would be flowing without resistance

The knowing is in unabated blissfulness within ever glowing

In an orientation of dynamic stillness our pristine innocence seeks neither change nor permanence

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