acceptance 2 - acceptance 3 - letting go

Acceptance is the truest
kinship with humanity.

G.K. Chesterton

   

Today I know that I cannot control the ocean tides.  I can only go with the flow. . . . When I struggle and try to organize the Atlantic to my specifications, I sink.  If I flail and thrash and growl and grumble, I go under.  But, if I let go and float, I am borne aloft.

Marie Stilkind

     
If we rail and kick against it and grow bitter, we won't change the inevitable; but we will change ourselves.  I know.  I have tried it.  I once refused to accept an inevitable situation with which I was confronted.  I played the fool and railed against it, and rebelled.  I turned my nights into hells of insomnia.  I brought upon myself everything I didn't want.  Finally, after a year of self-torture, I had to accept what I knew from the outset I couldn't possible alter.

Dale Carnegie
   

Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly.  Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.  What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind.  Every moment is a golden one for those who have the vision to recognize it as such.

Henry Miller

   
My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.

Michael J. Fox
   

Some people confuse acceptance with apathy, but there's
all the difference in the world.  Apathy fails to distinguish
what can and cannot be helped; acceptance makes the
distinction.  Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action;
acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens.

Arthur Gordon

   

welcome page - quotations - contents - obstacles
the people behind the words - our current e-zine - articles and excerpts
Daily Meditations, Year One - Year Two - Year Three - Year Four
     

Sign up for your free daily spiritual or general quotation
~ ~ Sign up for your free daily meditation

   

   

Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be
that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.  

Epictetus

   
Let us learn to accept ourselves--accept the truth that we are
capable in some directions and limited in others, that genius is
rare, that mediocrity is a portion of almost all of us, but that
we can contribute from the storehouse of our skills to
the enrichment of our common life.

Joshua Liebman
   

To teach people how to live without certainty and yet without being
paralyzed by hesitation is the lesson of learning acceptance.

unattributed

   

Acceptance is a letting-go process.  You let go of your wishes
and demands that life can be different.  It's a conscious choice.

Gary Emery

  

acceptance 2 - acceptance 3 - letting go

I am my own biggest critic.  Before anyone else has criticized me, I have
already criticized myself.  But for the rest of my life, I am going to be with
me and I don't want to spend my life with someone who is always critical.
So I am going to stop being my own critic.  It's high time
that I accept all the great things about me.

C. JoyBell C.

    

Acceptance is observation of life and suspension of judgment
about whether what is happening is good or bad, right or wrong.

Ron Smotherman

  

Seek not that things which happen should happen as you wish;
but wish the things which happen to be as they are,
and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

Epictetus

   

   

  

HOME - contents - Daily Meditations - abundance - acceptance - achievement - action - adversity - advertising - aging - ambition
anger - anticipation - anxiety - apathy - appreciation - arrogance - art - attitude - authenticity - awakening - awareness - awe
balance - beauty - being yourself - beliefs - body - brooding - busyness - caring - celebration - challenges -
change - character
charity - children - choices - Christianity - coincidence - commitment - common sense - community - comparison - compassion
competition - complaining - compliments - compromise - confidence - conformity - conscience - contentment - control - cooperation
courage - covetousness - creativity - crisis - criticism - cruelty -  death - decisions - desire - determination - disappointment
discipline - discouragement - diversity - doubt - dreams - earth - education - ego - emotions - encouragement - enlightenment
enthusiasm - envy - eternity - ethics - example - exercise - experience - failure - faith - fame - family - fate - fathers - fault-finding
fear - feelings - finances - flowers - forgiveness - freedom - friendship - frustration - fun - the future - garden of life - gardening
generosity - gentleness - giving - goals - God - goodness - grace - gratitude - greatness - greed - grief - growing up - guilt - habit
happiness - hatred - healing - health - heart - helpfulness - home - honesty - hope - hospitality - humility - hurry - ideals - identity
idleness  - idolatry - ignorance - illusion - imagination - impatience - individuality - the inner child - inspiration - integrity - intimacy
introspection - intuition - jealousy - journey of life - joy - judgment - karma - kindness - knowledge - language - laughter - laziness
leadership - learning - letting go - life - listening - loneliness - love - lying - magic - marriage - materialism - meanness - meditation
mindfulness - miracles - mistakes - mistrust - moderation - money - mothers - motivation - music - mystery - nature - negative attitude
now - oneness - open-mindedness - opportunity - optimism - pain - parenting - passion - the past - patience - peace - perfectionism
perseverance - perspective - pessimism - play - poetry - positive thoughts - possessions - potential - poverty - power - praise
prayer
- prejudice - pride - principle - problems - progress - prosperity - purpose - reading -recreation - reflection - relationships
religion - reputation - resentment - respect - responsibility - rest - revenge - risk - role models - running - ruts - sadness - safety
seasons of life - self - self-love - self-pity - self-reliance - self-respect selfishness - serving others - shame - silence - simplicity
slowing down - smiles -solitude - sorrow - spirit - stories - strength - stress - stupidity - success - suffering - talent
the tapestry of life - teachers - thoughts - time - today - tolerance - traditions - trees - trust - truth - unfulfilled dreams - values
vanity - virtue - vulnerability - walking - war - wealth - weight issues - wisdom - women - wonder - work - worry - worship
youth - spring - summer - fall - winter - Christmas - Thanksgiving - New Year - America - Zen sayings - articles & excerpts
Native American wisdom - The Law of Attraction - obstacles to living life fully - e-zine archives - quotations contents
our most recent e-zine - Great Thinkers - the people behind the words

  

   

   

acceptance 2 - acceptance 3 - letting go

   
Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it, as it is, is the only way of being happy.

Jennie Jerome Churchill

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

Helen Keller

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither,
but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.

Thornton Wilder

   

  
Articles and book excerpts on Acceptance:

Accepting Yourself Unconditionally      Brian Tracy
As Is      Gail Pursell Elliott

Acknowledge the Totality of Your Being      Richard Carlson

Differences      Iyanla Vanzant

Look at Life through the Windshield      Patti LaBelle

Now and Zen      Sylvia Boorstein

The River of Feelings      Thich Nhat Hanh

The Gerbil Story      Melody Beattie

The Waiver      Melody Beattie

The Fourth Tuesday:  We Talk about Death      Mitch Albom

Your Hidden Potential      Ari Kiev

Living with the Heart of a Child      Joe Mazzella

It's a Mistake!      tom walsh

Living Fully      Laura Russell

Thoughts on the Serenity Prayer      Ray Whiting

Snowy Day Gifts      Joe Mazzella

The Value of Acceptance      Janice Hain

Where I Am      tom walsh

    
You must know that you are worth much to me whether you accomplish
anything or not.  Even if you are rejected in the world's eyes, you are valuable to me.

Stormie Omartian
Stormie
   

Anything in life that we don't accept will simply
make trouble for us until we make peace with it.

Shakti Gawain

  

Suppose you feel you cannot accept some fact about yourself.  Then
own your refusal to accept.  Own the block.  Embrace it fully.  And
watch it begin to disappear.  The principal is this:  Begin where you
are--accept that.  Then change and growth become possible.

Nathaniel Branden
Self-Esteem Every Day

  

   

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

    
Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not
mean running away from the struggle.  On the contrary it means accepting
it as it comes. . . .  To accept is to say yes to life in its entirety.

Paul Tournier
   

Accepting that we have weaknesses becomes a strength.

Joseph M. Marshall III
Keep Going

  

I accept life unconditionally.  Most people ask for happiness on condition.
Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.

Artur Rubinstein

  
   
One of the reasons it's important to accept all aspects of yourself is that
it allows you to be easier on yourself, more compassionate.  When you act
or feel insecure, rather than pretending to be "together," you can open to
the truth and say to yourself, "I'm feeling a little frightened and that's
okay."  If you're feeling a little jealous, greedy, or angry, rather than
deny or bury your feelings, you can open up to them, which helps you move
through them quickly and grow beyond them.  When you no longer think of
your negative feelings as a big deal, or as something to fear, you will no
longer be as frightened by them.  When you open to the totality of your
being you no longer have to pretend that your life is perfect, or even hope
that it will be.  Instead you can accept yourself as you are, right now.

Richard Carlson
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
  

You may accept the inevitable with bitterness and resentment
or with patience and grace.  Mere acceptance is not sufficient.

Paul Brunton

  

Understanding is the first step to acceptance,
and only with acceptance can there be recovery.

J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

  

   

  acceptance 2 - acceptance 3 - letting go

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.

Lao Tzu
  

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change, the courage to change the things
I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

  

Acceptance says, True, this is my situation at the moment.  I'll look
unblinkingly at the reality of it.  But I'll also open my hands to
accept willingly whatever a loving Father sends me.

Catherine Marshall

   


   

    

Found online:
 

 
(Found online images come from a variety of unattributed
sources from various social media pages.  They're too nice
not to share!)

     
   

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.