We are asked to accept many things: ourselves, as we are; our feelings, needs, desires, choices, and current status of being. Other people, as they are. The status of our relationships with them. Problems. Blessings. Financial status. Where we live. Our work, our tasks, our level of performance at these tasks.
Resistance will not move us forward, nor will it eliminate the undesirable. But even our resistance may need to be accepted. Even resistance yields to and is changed by acceptance.
Acceptance is the magic that makes change possible. It is not forever; it is for the present moment.
Acceptance is the magic that makes our present circumstances good. It brings peace and contentment and opens the door to growth, change, and moving forward.
It shines the light of positive energy on all that we have and are. Within the framework of acceptance, we figure out what we need to do to take care of ourselves.
Acceptance empowers the positive and tells our Higher Power we have mastered today's lesson, and are ready to move on.
Today, I will accept. I will relinquish my need to be in resistance to my environment and myself. I will surrender. I will cultivate contentment and gratitude. I will move forward in joy by accepting where I am today.
From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©
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Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Keep It Simple
The most elusive knowledge of all is self-knowledge. --Mirra Komarovsky
Discovering who we are is an adventure, one that will thrill and sometimes trouble us and will frequently occupy our thoughtful reflections. We are growing and changing as a result of our commitment to ourselves. And it's that process of commitment that heightens our self-awareness.
We learn who we are by listening to others, by sensing their perceptions of us, by taking an honest, careful inventory of our own behavior. The inner conversations that haunt us while we're interacting with others are poignant guidelines to self-knowledge, self-definition. Just when we think we've figured out who we are and how to handle our flaws, a new challenge will enter our realm of experiences, shaking up all the understandings that have given us guidance heretofore.
It is not an easy task to discover who we really are. It's an even harder job to love and accept the person we discover. But too many years went by while we avoided or denied or, worse yet, denounced the only person we knew how to be. The process offers us the way to learn about and love fully the person within. Nor will we find the way easy every day. But there's time enough to let the process ease our investigation.
Action for the Day: I will be soft and deliberate today as I listen to others and myself.
Assets
Even when we have tried and failed,
we may chalk it up as one of the greatest credits of all.
Under these conditions, the pains of failure are converted into assets.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 93
Thought to Ponder . . .
Pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
K C B = Keep Coming Back.
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Daily Motivation
Get on with living
Avoid trouble, but not so much that you avoid life. Anticipate possible problems, but don’t obsess over them so much that you miss the opportunities.
When you set out on an ambitious path, there are plenty of things that might go wrong. Prepare yourself to deal with those possible pitfalls, but don’t allow them to become excuses even before they become reality.
Don’t let yourself be stopped by what might not even happen. Rather, let yourself be pushed forward by the positive value of what you intend to achieve, to experience, to create.
Put your time and effort into growing stronger, more capable, more experienced and effective. Focus your thoughts not on worrying about what might stand in your way, but on visualizing where you desire to go.
You’ve already made your way through every challenge to date. You have every reason to be confident that you can successfully deal with whatever life sends your way.
There are plenty of reasons and ways to be careful, yet there’s no reason to constantly live in fear. Go ahead and get on with living a positive, meaningful life.
— Ralph Marston
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