For Today - Acceptance

The philosophy of waiting is sustained by all the articles of the universe. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I need only to look and see that all things happen in their own time. The resolution of each problem has its own timetable. No amount of wishing, wringing of hands are raging will effect a change.

Acceptance is the simple act of going through what is presently facing me, be it pain, anger, despair, hopelessness, or their opposites. When life as it really is becomes a fact that I accept as naturally as I breathe, events lose their power to throw me off balance or disturb the basic rhythm of my life.

For today: Acceptance also comes in its own time and I do not berate myself for not having it on demand.  [For Today, p.6]

Yesterday, I was at group and the topic was coping with change.  Much of the discussion focused on acceptance:  accepting change, accepting our limits in influencing the course of change, and increasing our resources when stressed by change. 

 

I spoke by phone with a former client yesterday.  He was persistent in wanting to talk to me despite being told by my office I was on long term leave for medical reasons.  I have known this man for more than 10 years and worked on several large projects with him.  I respect him as a leader of his community. 

 

I decided to be candid -- acknowledging that I was on leave, it was for medical reasons, I had burned out and was working through a major depression.  He responded by sharing his own story of burning out, taking a few years off work, going to a recovery centre.  He said when he finally understood why he was doing what he did to himself, he felt such peace and hope.  But the underlying sadness never totally goes away.  I felt accepted when he shared his own struggles.  He gets it and he could see his own journey in mine.  He was encouraging.

 

Acceptance comes in its own time.  So I wait.  I work on change as I can in the meantime.  But I let go of expectations around outcomes.  Change happens in its own time too.