Accepting “What is”

Posted by admin in Blog (Weekly), Blogs

Apr
18

I’ve spoken to several friends this week and as we shared with one another the challenges, opportunities, and lessons we were experiencing during this time of awakening. We all agreed that the bottom line for all of us was to trust, surrender and accept “what is.”

Is it easy for you to surrender and accept “what is” in some areas of your life and not in others? Surrender happens when we know that we don’t know and we cannot think or see our way through where we are. We don’t have the answers and more effort, more doing, more thinking, more control, more plans don’t work.

Surrender is turning the results over to a Power greater than ourselves. When everything we’re doing, saying, and trying to make happen is no longer about trying to control the future, or producing a certain result, we’re able to drop into the present moment and experience this moment directly, as it is.

When we surrender to what is, there is a great sense of ease, relief, and peace. We know we can’t fix or figure it out and we give up the belief that we can make reality different than what it is. Surrender is not for the faint of heart and it’s not easy. You may have difficulty surrendering and accepting:

Your inability to create abundance and what you want in your life.
Health challenges.
Relationship challenges.
Financial challenges.
Unemployment or an unfulfilling job.
Your children or grandchildren suffering.
Your own addiction or a family member’s addiction.
Grief and loss of a loved one.

The spiritual path invites us to accept everything as it is at the moment. The mind tries to control everything to try to keep us safe, make us happy and make our lives better. Our minds will fight with, reject, deny, ignore, push against, and keep maneuvering to change those situations that we don’t want.

If I want peace in my life, accepting what is in the moment is my goal. I lose my peace when I worry, obsess, blame, judge, and try to control other people and outcomes. I cannot change other people; all I can change is myself and my behaviors and attitudes.

When I have a difficult time accepting what is, it is usually because of fear of the future. I suffer when I refuse to accept what is happening in the moment. There is a line in a song that says: Only what is, what if what is, is just right?

I struggle with accepting my health challenges, especially when I don’t know what’s going on in my body or why something is happening. I feel afraid and want to fix and control it immediately. Patience is not my strongest point when it comes to my health and I struggle with accepting “what is.”

I have been on a journey of healing my gut for several years with diet and exercise with intermittent success and failure. I had a difficult time accepting that I had a sugar allergy. Until I accepted what is, I was in and out of denial thinking I could eat just a little sugar and be ok. What a roller coaster that was. It’s one day at a time as I surrender, trust, and accept what is.

Surrender and accepting “what is” are true gifts. When we finally acknowledge that we can’t do it, we give ourselves the opportunity to be carried by Spirit who is taking us where we need to go, even though we have no idea where that might be.

What area do you have difficulty trusting, surrendering and accepting “what is?”