ACCEPTANCE

A number of fellow bloggers have chosen "a word" to live by in 2016. I like this idea and had a sort of mantra last year that really helped me get through some tough times. That word was ACCEPTANCE. I've thought and thought and cannot come up with a better word...for me. So again I will accept "what was" and "what is". Accepting and being present in each moment is so freeing. Of course I still get caught up in the mind games where my mind whirls back to certain events or is so busy processing the day that the present moment is lost and unacknowledged. Therefore, I choose ACCEPTANCE as my word to live by.

I ACCEPT...

• ...what is. Kind of silly not to accept "what is" isn't it? Yet a lot of people, dare I say most people, are unhappy with some part, of their life.  Life's that "shit that happens" when you're busy making other plans. As Robbie Burns Day is coming up I'll steal a quote from him - "there is no such uncertainty as a sure thing." There I was all ready to live in PEI when I retired, I thought it was a "sure thing", had bought the house and everything. And yet, here I am, writing from London, ON. I have to accept that as my truth because I have to "accept what is." Spending time wishing for "what isn't" is a big time waster and brings a person nothing but sadness.
• ...that I am short and that I'm not the slender little thing I was 30 years ago. If only I could be a tall, athletic, nordic blonde then I'd be happy. Well, no, perhaps I wouldn't be happy but you know what I mean. 
• ...that I've lived an unorthodox life and have made mistakes - leaving my bank career and going to university for Visual Art when I was 28; having Kazi when I was 34, not marrying her father etc etc. But I accept all of that - hey, it makes me interesting :)
• ...that my aging body is breaking down a little bit but yoga helps!
• ...that I'll never be rich! I won't have a fancy new car or a big house. But I can be comfortable and accept and make the most of the money I have.
• ...where I am at in my life right this second. I don't want to go back in time or forward in time. I am happy at this precise moment. 

Eckhart Tolle talks a lot about accepting yourself and living in the present, the moment. Here's a sample:

“Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

I say YES to life! We all have such active minds that take us all over the place instead of being in this moment. Twice daily meditation has helped me with that. I'm trying to live in the moment though it isn't easy. I'll keep trying. 

Acceptance of what is.