Acceptance is the Answer
Let’s face it. There are so much suffering going on all around us today as I have said before and can’t stop acknowledging. Even though I’m not keeping up with the news every day, I can feel it. I’m sure the fact that the news — fake or real — are so available any moment in our life these days (whereas they were limited to prime hour news either on TV or radio or newspapers that got delivered once a day once upon a time) makes it too easy to get hooked on constantly checking on what’s happening in the world.
And I wonder if I’m highly empathetic to feel so unsettled every morning as I wake up, or is it my own shit (excuse my language). It’s likely the combination of both. I’ve never considered myself to be a pessimist, but I’m beginning to wonder. I’m not liking the thoughts that are passing through my head, and I would like to change that. I don’t want to be a whiner or nay sayer. As I sought a consult of an energy healer, who told me that I’m carrying too much on my shoulder. That feels true. Sigh.
Over the last weekend when I finally got a day off on Labor Day, I sat in my living room feeling emotionally tired and rather hopeless. I guess I had to feel it without being distracted by all the activities. I finally picked up two books. First, the Big Book of Alcoholic Anonymous. I opened to the paragraph about acceptance. “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation — some face of my life — unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.” Pow! I felt like I just unloaded a whole a lot of weight. Again, this is equanimity that Buddha talks about.
Then I opened “the Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” by Charlie Mackesy that a friend gave me for my birthday. It’s such a simple book yet filled with wisdom like, ‘“Asking for help isn’t giving up,” said the horse. “It’s refusing to give up,”’ and ‘”Sometimes just getting up and carrying on is brave and magnificent.” OMG. These words were so apropos for my emotional state at that moment, and it literally felt like a divine message to me. Whether it’s in the stars or biorhythm, I think my funk is beginning to fade as I accept where I am and let the feelings work through me. Acceptance is the answer for now.