More acceptance

We talked about acceptance last week and that we have a choice in how we look at and respond to an event. Sometimes I think this is more obvious when it comes to things we absolutely can’t change, like the weather and seaweed on the beach.

How is it for you when someone in your life makes choices you don’t feel are best for them and you can see it ending badly? It is easier for us to see all the dynamics of a situation that we are not directly involved in. We’ve sometimes been through or have seen others go through similar situations so we have the knowledge we think they could learn from and that would save them from the pain they’re headed into.

One of our greatest lessons in this lifetime will be accepting others’ choices and honoring the choices they make; then doing what’s right and best for us and letting them do their own thing.

This has been one of the greatest lessons in my life and I think I’m finally getting it. It has taken a lot of time and experience for me to learn acceptance. I always wanted to make things better for others and not see them struggle. I thought I knew what was best for them.

As I’ve worked through the layers of acceptance, I realized that at the core of my struggle was my resistance to being uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable for me to see others struggling and I didn’t know that being in that uncomfortableness (in acceptance) was the lesson for me.

I did not like to feel the pain. I subconsciously believed that if I didn’t acknowledge it that it didn’t exist, so I stuffed it down and hid it behind trying to control things.

It’s difficult to bless and support people when we can’t accept what decisions they are making.

Acceptance doesn’t mean you agree with others’ decisions, it simply means that you let others make their own decisions and honor the choices they make by not getting overly involved.

We honor them and ourselves by doing what’s best for us. Sometimes that means stepping back, sometimes it means they can’t be in your life until the behavior changes.

Everyone is here to experience what their soul needs to expand. I know from experience that getting too involved in others’ experiences can keep them and us from gaining the wisdom we were meant to gain from challenging times.

When we change the world changes.

Want to receive a weekly dose of wisdom in your inbox?

Sign up for my Weekly Wisdom emails and I’ll send you journal prompts and affirmations each Sunday along with my latest blog post to help you start your week intentionally.