Acceptation
“The problem of personal mastery versus self-surrender exists in every moment of choice. It appears in the most mundane of daily decisions, and it glows fiercely in the way we view the very meaning of existence. It presents us with a dilemma; a dilemma that can confuse us and may—if taken far enough—even destroy us. Fundamentally, this dilemma has to do with whether we engage the deepest levels of our lives in willing or in willful ways.” Gerald G. May, Will & Spirit, Inwardoutward.org, Daily Quote, May 9, 2018.
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Acceptance is a huge part of living life on life’s terms in recovery groups as well as all spiritual practices connecting us to living in the present moment.
I try to learn a new word each day. The one for today is acceptation, which means a favorable reception or approval of acceptance. This is in my prayers for today that we will live in acceptation, receiving the gift of acceptance and surrender just for today.
Balbir Matbur would tell us that the other conditions needed to travel in his boat called surrender or acceptance would be gratitude and forgiveness.
Acceptation, however, is not just giving up and lying down on a fainting couch of old, even though this may be what we need to do at the beginning. Pausing, waiting is definitely necessary at first before we undertake an ill-fated action or rhetoric. We rest, try to find a connection to God in the spiritual practices we know. As we paddle along using Matbur’s oars of gratitude and forgiveness, we will find answers, strength to go on downstream or even upstream and do what we think and feel we may be called to do next.
Sometimes it is more waiting. Eventually we are led to action. The action is usually trying to change the situation by changing how we react to it. We learn that our reaction may be on the right course when we experience peace and love that make ripples and sometimes even waves of the same.
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com