Virtue #4

I sometimes find myself lost in thoughts of past, present, and future.  I imagine these moments as moths caught in a spider's web.  Thoughts, especially mine, can do that to you.  They get you tangled up in something not worth focusing on.  Do you ever feel like every time you turn around something else isn't going as planned?  It happens.  We are, after all, only human.  It is easy to be quick to anger, fear, or worry when we are caught in our thought webs.  We feel the need to re-do failures to prove to ourselves we can conquer anything.  We avoid people and things when we don't get our way.  This year, I am trying something new.  I think that if just once I let myself accept the fact that I am not in control of all circumstances I might actually find peace.  

Virtue #4 is Acceptance:  To consider circumstances, especially those that cannot be changed, as satisfactory.

I won't write a negative list of "problems" that I have yet to accept as things I am not in control of.  I am simply going to say, life is full of ups and downs.  I fear that if we do not learn to accept some of those downs we may never feel successful, inspired, or clear-minded.

I am learning to refine my edges, part of that to me is learning to balance.  Learning when to accept "defeat" and when to keep pushing for "more".  What I do know is that there is an art to balance, we cannot always accept what we are given but we also must be aware that we cannot always control it either.

My hope for you today and this year is that you begin to see the things in your life you can accept.  In balance with that, I hope you are also able to see the things you want to continue to push towards a new outcome.  Acceptance will take practice.  It is almost as though you are retraining your mind to not feel the need to control.

Start your practice soon, before you forget!

Best,

Cordelia