I’ve been talking a lot about sobriety and more particularly practices to foster success in recovery, but these practices of acceptance, surrender and awareness are also applicable for anyone who needs to work through a challenge or has a desire to bring about significant life change. Perhaps you aren’t sober or working to be, but you have other hurdles you’re facing, these principles can be applied to any issue or area of personal development you may be seeking to achieve.
In the last post we talked accepting the past, and this week we’ll talk about the importance of accepting exactly where you are right in this moment. At first It sounds like this would be easier than accepting something you cannot change from the past, but accepting the present comes with some difficulty in and of itself. Why? Because it requires us to be truthful to ourselves by being honest about where we are at, what our reality actually is and then making a decision to move forward in an effort to create a better future.
If you are dealing with alcoholism or addiction, getting in a position to accept that your life is unmanageable or out of control is a good thing even though it doesn’t necessarily feel good. By admitting to that reality and truth of the situation, then and only then can you begin to address it.
Accepting life exactly how it is instead of how you wish it was, is something that is extremely powerful.
If you have a problem, accept the problem. Rather than run from it or push it to the side, just admit that it’s there. And guess what, it’s ok; we all face trials, problems and addictions in our lives. It’s not something to be ashamed of. There is peace in knowing that you are not alone and you are not the only one. Bring attention to it and watch how much easier it becomes to handle and how the resources begin to align to help you do just that.
Sometimes what I like to do with problems is look at them as challenges and obstacle courses. I think to myself, how can I outsmart this, grow from this, learn from this and work through this in the best way possible so that I come out on the other side as a winner of the battle.
A quote that I read the other day is:
“You are not a victim. No matter what you have been through, you’re still here. You may have been challenged, hurt, betrayed, beaten and discouraged, but nothing has defeated you. You are still here! You have been delayed, but not denied. You are not a victim; you are a victor. You have a history of victory.” – Steve Maraboli
This reminds me that nothing is ever as hard as it appears or seems. There is always a solution available to us, but that solution is most always tied to accepting the challenge, being up for the hard work, making changes and commitments to rise to the occasion.
A huge factor in sobriety is always being able to accept things for how they are. Not just with ourselves, but as life throws things at us. I think this concept also rings true for anyone. There is so much more happiness in accepting the present moment for exactly what it is. Sometimes we get caught up in wishful thinking, wanting, desiring, wondering “what if,” or trying to control or fix what’s in front of us.
When we stop trying to make things into something they are not, and accept things for what they actually are, we can move into a higher level of operation and experience more happiness because of it.
This not only fuels sobriety, but it also helps to shield relapse from happening and it offers each of us a chance to witness the miraculous nature of life by accepting that each circumstance was put there for a purpose.
Living in acceptance rather than expectation creates more happiness, peace and calmness. Allowing life to happen as it is and as it should means that we must accept each moment exactly how it is and trust that it’s bringing us what we need to evolve, learn and become a better human.
By being brutally honest with ourselves, not only do we face our challenges head on, but we also bring acceptance to our current situation. By accepting the present moment…
We can effectively work on solutions and we begin to allow ourselves to see visions of a better future.
We can change our mindsets from negative patterns of hiding into positive and practical mentalities that breed change.
We can spend our energy chasing our goals instead of running from our problems.
But most importantly, we begin to see that God has his hand in our lives and He is always at work for our greater good. Even though the present moment may not look like his doing, we can find rest and peace in knowing when we trust the process by accepting his tests, miracles begin to unfold.