Living a Peaceful Life Involves Doing This One Practice
“Happiness can only exist in acceptance.” — George Orwell
Many term the word acceptance to be a sign of weakness. When in the actual sense, acceptance means living. To live peacefully, you need to practice acceptance.
One of the much-needed quality we all haven’t developed that can make our life easier is acceptance. I’m talking about the ability to accept things that can’t be changed, to be okay with what was in the past and let it be, to accept the uncertainty of the future and the imperfection of the present.
I once wrote an article forgive yourself and do better, the article is a precursor to this. Because if you don’t learn to forgive yourself first, you can’t practice acceptance. The older we get, the more we start accepting everything and everyone around us. Because we see it’s the only way to keep living without so much stress and overthinking says LIDIYA K.
Our relationship is in a problem, we find someone to blame.
Our work result is bad, we find someone to blame.
Our sales dropped below usual, we find someone to blame.
The weather is too hot or too cold for us, we find a way to blame God.
If we keep living like this, we will never accept what life is and when we don’t accept life, we resist it. When you learn to accept life, living becomes easier for you. However, when you resist life, you suffer. And in the wise words of Lao Tzu that says:
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
I made a mistake at work the other day that almost caused the company. Immediately I found out my mistake, I reached out to my boss and told him about my mistake and acknowledge my fault. Acknowledging and telling my boss about my mistakes wasn’t an easy one for me but it lifted all the weight of my chest not because I won’t be punished but because I needed to be free.
And that’s what life is all about. Being free with oneself and others. When you are not free with yourself, you cant be free with the outside world. And when you are not free with the outside world, you will always put other peoples opinion above yours. In the words of Lao Tzu that says:
“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
You did a mistake at work, accept your fault and move on. Your relationship ended badly, accept what has happened and move on. Being able to accept things that are out of your control will help you maintain inner peace and happiness.
Most times, the reason we find it difficult to move on is that we haven’t accepted what life is in our lives. Our inability to accept what can’t be changed turns our days into dreadful battles.
The way out of it all
There are two ways out of a problem: accept what’s happening, see the positive, and choose a peaceful state of mind; or fight against it, be miserable, and struggle against the universe. Do the former over the latter. When you fail or make a crucial mistake, be okay with it. Accept it for the experience and lesson it is. And go do it better this time.
It was Charlotte Joko Beck who said when we refuse to work with our disappointment, we break the precepts: rather than experience the disappointment, we resort to anger, greed, gossip and criticism.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade with it. The very quotes above come from accepting what life gives you. If you don’t accept what life gives you how can you make something good of it? Sometimes, the very thing you run away from is the very thing that can lead to your breakthrough. Dita Von Teese failed at ballet and yet uses her ballet lesson to create one of the best burlesque show.
Lesson: Learn from your failures and improve yourself next time.
You can find someone to blame for your woes or learn to accept your responsibility. Blaming is a way of running away from the truth and being able to acknowledge the truth starts with learning to accept things as it is.
Freedom
Freedom is instantaneous the moment we accept things as they are.
Freedom is closely connected to our relationship to pain and suffering because the pain comes from experiencing life as it is with no trimming. But when we try to escape from the experience of pain, we suffer.
It was author Mark Manson who said freedom itself demands discomfort and dissatisfaction. Because the lower our tolerance level for pain, the more we indulge in fake freedoms and the less we will be able to uphold the virtues necessary to allow us to function.
Wisdom is the ability to see life as it is and not the way you want it to be. To understand life is to accept what life gives you.
Learn to accept what life gives you and do something better with it. Because with life, it’s for better or worse.
