A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H   I  J  K  L  M   N   O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

You are cordially invited to join me this month as I explore the idea of Acceptance and its powerful effects on our lives.

What is Acceptance?

I’d heard of Lamaze childbirth classes, but I wanted “Husband-Coached Natural Childbirth.” I first learned about acceptance in our classes. We focused on learning to breathe into the pain, to accept it and ride through the wave of the contraction.

This method was in stark contrast to Lamaze, which taught you to focus on something else and get through the pain. One says yes to the pain of the contraction and relaxes through it. The other just hangs on, trying to get through it as soon as possible.

Although “accept” encompasses coming to believe that an opinion or explanation is valid or correct, for me it deals directly with validity, and not correctness. Acceptance is all about embracing the unwanted, allowing it to be just as it is, without my judgment, my approval or my consent.

I think acceptance is, at least in part, a developmental stage we reach at different times in life.

So What?

Do you have any challenges in your life? I think most of us do. And you may have noticed how little control we actually have over the how and when and what. However, we do have at least some control over how we respond to the challenges. Acceptance is a key part of successfully navigating the challenges, and seeing them as opportunities.

Now What?

Acceptance takes intention and persistence and courage and all the good stuff inside me. Acceptance comes through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. It’s a journey, not a destination. It’s an ongoing decision for us humans.

To paraphrase an old song; What the World Needs Now is Acceptance, Sweet Acceptance.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H   I  J  K  L  M   N   O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

The theme of my blogs for the Blogging A to Z challenge this month is Acceptance, following the  reflection practice of asking these three questions: What?  So What? Now What? At least, unless I change my mind, which I did about tomorrow’s post.