Choosing Acceptance = More Joy
To survive THE BIG GRIEF, accept reality and adapt.
The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu have named Acceptance as the 4th of their 8 Pillars of Joy. You will find my articles on each Pillar in my publication, Loving-Mother-Earth, and below.
We are already adapting to THE BIG GRIEF that is under way. Can you tell?
Our winter vacation on Ft. Myers Beach brought reality home. Maybe you have been whacked by one natural disaster or another, but this is the one that touched us.
The house we rented right on the beach in March of 2022 is now completely gone. Wiped out by Hurricane Ian.
Climate change is real, and we are in an emergency. But you already know that, so I’m not going to preach to the choir.
How well are we going to adapt?
The answer will depend upon our personal and collective choices. Maybe you will be among those who migrate. Or maybe you will drive an electric vehicle. Or maybe your habits of consumption will shift toward more sustainable products. Or maybe you won’t buy from a company that isn’t working diligently to regenerate Mother Earth.
Here is a fact: Opening our hearts and accepting our shared reality will certainly help us to adapt.
You and I have a ton of regrets when it comes to Climate Change. The alarm bells were going off in 1962 when Rachel Carson published her seminal book, Silent Spring. Here is another fact: Since around 1760, when we fired up the coal burning industrial revolution, we have done incalculable damage to Mother Earth.
We have had plenty of time to reverse course. A lot of water has gone over the damn, and a lot of CO2 has been pumped into the atmosphere.
Now, it will be better for us if we opt into the reality that Mother Earth can actually live without us.
Accepting this truth, no matter how inconvenient, will make it easier to live with joy in the present moment.
Denying this reality will give us only temporary relief. Nothing will improve while we are stuck in denial.
Lamenting and arguing over past errors will just keep us in turmoil. Injustices do need to be corrected, but that will only happen through actions taken in the present moment.
Fretting over the future will dissipate the energy we have for the challenges facing us today.
Here is my favorite — I catastrophize! Everything is doom and gloom!
The reality is that there will be an unimaginable amount of doom and gloom, but some of life will survive and Mother Earth will adapt — with us, or without us.
Living in the present moment is the best option. Right there, in the present, is where we can find enough joyful energy to move ahead, one day at a time.
Accept it. We are in a fight for our lives. That’s just the way it is.
Wow…I just now recalled “Doctor Love,” Leo Buscaglia, and one of his quotes that has obviously stuck with me.
“When you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot, hold on… and swing!”
That is accepting what is, and when we do that, we will find joy in the present moment.
In 2020, I wrote the book LOVING MOTHER EARTH: Integrating Environmentalism and Spirituality. You can find commentaries about the big ideas in this little book at www.loving-mother-earth.com, and here on Medium. You can purchase my book on Amazon, and know that if you do, $5.00 from every purchase is donated to The Sierra Club.
Thank you for Loving Mother Earth. Follow me and I will follow you if, in truth, you are passionate about integrating environmentalism with spirituality. After all, we are in this together.
