Acceptance Is Not Surrender, Ceding or Giving In

Acceptance Is Not Surrender, Ceding or Giving In ©2016 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

There's a popular prayer that starts by asking for the serenity to accept the things you cannot change.
It's a powerful statement. You are accepting what is, but not agreeing to it.

In accepting the situation, you are acknowledging the reality of it. You are not in denial that it is happening, you are not avoiding the reality. You are actually standing in your own power, while being powerless over other's behavior or external circumstances.

Acceptance allows you to take action, to respond rather than react. You can make better choices when you're not reacting.

Glowing Flower with Sunlight, photo credit: Tbala11

Now, there's also an aspect of Surrender that doesn't mean ceding your power, or giving in. It means you are not resisting the dominating energy. When you resist, you become rigid, you get stuck. You actually attract what you're resisting.  In non-resistance, the negative energy passes through. You can weave around it. It dissipates.

A few years ago I was in a situation that was intolerable. I was powerless over the outcome. I was powerless over other people's behavior.

Others might have said, but you could have talked to them about it. This was your opportunity to speak out.

I did not waste energy fighting it or trying to change them. I placed principles before personalities. I focused on the bigger picture. I remained in integrity with my core values.

I was there to do something no one else could do, I brought my awareness of Consciousness to the situation. What unfolded was greater than what anyone there could acknowledge.

And so it is.

You may be going home for the holidays and dreading becoming enmeshed in the dysfunctional family patterns. You might be avoiding certain relatives because of painful memories.

You could be distracted by the news, by the current insanity in politics. You could be outraged by people's refusal to be involved, or general unconsciousness.

You cannot change, fix, or manipulate the world outside yourself without getting entangled in it. You can detach, by stepping back emotionally.

You can accept that most people aren't operating at optimal awareness. Most people are playing out invisible programming.

When you can see that and not resist it, you reclaim your energy from it.

You start to see the world through a different lens. You might actually be amused by it.

We have been through dark times before. There is too much light in the world nowadays.

The sun is more powerful than the night.

Stand in your own sunlight, shine in your own truth, and see how that transforms your life!