{"id":1941,"date":"2020-08-04T01:54:29","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T01:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=1941"},"modified":"2020-08-04T01:54:29","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T01:54:29","slug":"the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html","title":{"rendered":"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"acceptance\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Life can be hard at times.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t always go according to plan.\u00a0 So, the key to happiness is to not expect the perfect life.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t happening for any of us.\u00a0 Rather, the key is acceptance.\u00a0 When we learn to accept life as it is, then we can effectively respond to life\u2019s inevitable problems and enjoy its many blessings.<\/p>\n

Let me give you a very simple example.\u00a0 I have a rescue dog.\u00a0 My husband and daughter gave him to me as a Mother\u2019s Day gift many years ago.\u00a0 This was not a dog for the faint of heart. \u00a0When he arrived on my doorstep, he previously had been abused and had gone through multiple owners, none of whom could manage him.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and after a lot of training and rules, the dog is a proper citizen.\u00a0 He sits, stays, and heels when I walk with him.\u00a0 And he has relaxed significantly.\u00a0 He spends most of each day quietly sleeping on our oriental rugs (the wood floor is far too hard for his sensitive body!).\u00a0 And he gets along peacefully with our cat and two bunnies.<\/p>\n

However \u2026 he is an American Staffordshire Terrier, and this breed is very protective of their family.\u00a0 As a result, anyone who walks by the house, from the mail delivery person to a lady walking a chihuahua, will upset the dog to no end.\u00a0 There will be frantic barking and jumping at the windows.<\/p>\n

Now I could get upset with the dog every time he does this, which is daily.\u00a0 But American Staffordshires are \u201cworking dogs.\u201d They aren\u2019t lap dogs.\u00a0 They like to have a job.\u00a0 And he has decided that his job is to protect our family.<\/p>\n

It is what it is.\u00a0 While dogs are trainable to do certain things \u2013 heel, fetch, sit and stay \u2013 you can\u2019t train them out of their nature.\u00a0 So, my fighting against the dog\u2019s desire to bark at every passerby is pointless.\u00a0 As a result, I\u2019ve just accepted that there will be a bit of commotion whenever we get an Amazon delivery.<\/p>\n

My dog barking situation illustrates the challenge for all of us.\u00a0 Do we accept the barking?\u00a0 Or, do we get upset, fret, and say to ourselves, \u201cWhy does the dog bark?\u00a0 He shouldn\u2019t do that!\u201d\u00a0 Of course, he shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 But he does.\u00a0 And my fighting that reality it is just a waste of time.<\/p>\n

Below are some ways to stop fighting against reality, and to accept the dog barking and all the other imperfections of life.<\/p>\n

Accepting Other People<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Have you ever been in a relationship in which the other person\u2019s behavior was deplorable?\u00a0 Of course, you have.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all been there.\u00a0 And typically, in response, we think to ourselves, \u201cWell, this person should be nicer.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cThis person should be more ethical.\u201d\u00a0 And they should be!<\/p>\n

So, then we try to reason with that person.\u00a0 We try to explain why their behavior is unpleasant or improper.\u00a0 And unfortunately, most of the time they just don\u2019t care<\/em>.\u00a0 Talking to them is the equivalent of slamming your head against a wall.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t interested in their effect on other people.\u00a0 They live inside their big pumpkin heads.<\/p>\n

So, you have two choices.\u00a0 You can accept their crummy behavior and carry on with life.\u00a0 Or you can decide to stop dealing with the misbehaving person altogether.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have any other choices.\u00a0 Either way, you have to accept that this person is unpleasant, and they aren\u2019t going to change.<\/p>\n

Once you practice acceptance in your relationships with other people, life becomes a lot simpler.\u00a0 People are who they are.\u00a0 And most of the time, no matter who much you pray, plead or argue, they don\u2019t change.\u00a0 So, with acceptance comes clarity.\u00a0 You can choose to deal with the unpleasant person, bad behavior and all. \u00a0Or you can stop dealing with that person and have a much more pleasant life.\u00a0 The choice is yours.<\/p>\n

Accepting Situations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We all have to go through unfortunate situations in life.\u00a0 Currently, we are living in a pandemic, and admittedly, it is not so great.\u00a0 We are dealing with social distancing and mask wearing, challenges which we haven\u2019t had to deal with before.<\/p>\n

But even without the unusual circumstance of a pandemic, life inevitably tosses difficult situations our way.\u00a0 Job loss.\u00a0 Divorce.\u00a0 Relocation.\u00a0 The death of loved ones.\u00a0 The question isn\u2019t whether we will face difficult situations, but when<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The key to being happy is acceptance.\u00a0 We need to accept that we occasionally will have to deal with hard situations.\u00a0 Of course, accepting that fact is difficult.\u00a0 It feels very unfair when our loved ones pass away.\u00a0 It is challenging to lose your job and have to scramble to pay your bills.<\/p>\n

But fighting against the unfairness of life is a waste of time.\u00a0 Life sometimes can be hard and unfair.\u00a0 Fighting against that fact will not change anything.<\/p>\n

For example, I once met a lady who was diagnosed with Lupus.\u00a0 When the doctor advised her of the diagnosis, she said that she felt sorry for herself for about 30 seconds.\u00a0 Then she immediately jumped to the next step: What do I do now?\u00a0 After her diagnosis, this brave lady proceeded to attack her illness by working with doctors and nutritionists.\u00a0 She read everything that she could about the illness and today lives a healthy life.<\/p>\n

The benefit of accepting life, instead of fighting against it, is that acceptance allows us to respond to life\u2019s challenges more effectively.\u00a0 If the lady who had Lupus had been frustrated and saddened by her diagnosis, she could have wasted a year or more living in depression.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t have spent that year doing everything possible to become healthy.<\/p>\n

So, don\u2019t fight life.\u00a0 Accept other people for who they are.\u00a0 Accept frustrating situations as inevitable bumps in the road of life.\u00a0 Once you accept life as it is, you won\u2019t waste your time lamenting the fact that life isn\u2019t as it should be.\u00a0 Instead, you\u2019ll face life as it is, and you\u2019ll be far more effective in dealing with difficult situations as they arise. (To read more about moving from acceptance to gratitude click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Email: meerabelle@meerabelledey.com<\/p>\n

If you would like to receive my Free E-Book, “The Confidence Course,” and sign up for my weekly newsletter, go to meerabelledey.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life can be hard at times.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t always go according to plan.\u00a0 So, the key to happiness is to not expect the perfect life.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t happening for any of us.\u00a0 Rather, the key is acceptance.\u00a0 When we learn to accept life as it is, then we can effectively respond to life\u2019s inevitable problems…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Life-Changing Power of Acceptance - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The key to a happy life is acceptance. When you accept other people and situations for what they are, you will put yourself on the path to happiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The key to a happy life is acceptance. When you accept other people and situations for what they are, you will put yourself on the path to happiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-04T01:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2020\/08\/pexels-humphrey-muleba-1612856-367x550.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meerabelle Dey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","description":"The key to a happy life is acceptance. When you accept other people and situations for what they are, you will put yourself on the path to happiness.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","og_description":"The key to a happy life is acceptance. When you accept other people and situations for what they are, you will put yourself on the path to happiness.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html","og_site_name":"Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","article_published_time":"2020-08-04T01:54:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2020\/08\/pexels-humphrey-muleba-1612856-367x550.jpg"}],"author":"Meerabelle Dey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html","name":"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2020\/08\/pexels-humphrey-muleba-1612856-367x550.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-04T01:54:29+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-04T01:54:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/7250ab2fc75dd2e7e923fbec0fbb375c"},"description":"The key to a happy life is acceptance. When you accept other people and situations for what they are, you will put yourself on the path to happiness.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2020\/08\/pexels-humphrey-muleba-1612856-367x550.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2020\/08\/pexels-humphrey-muleba-1612856-367x550.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2020\/08\/the-life-changing-power-of-acceptance.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Life-Changing Power of Acceptance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/","name":"Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Meerabelle Dey","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/7250ab2fc75dd2e7e923fbec0fbb375c","name":"Meerabelle Dey","description":"Meerabelle Dey has a B.A. in History and Religious Studies from the University of Toronto and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. Much of her legal career has been spent dealing with issues affecting women, children and the poor. She has lived in the United States, Canada and the Middle East. Meerabelle now devotes her time to writing. Her mission is to use her writing to inspire others to achieve God\u2019s unique purpose for their life.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/author\/mdey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1941"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1962,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941\/revisions\/1962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}