By Lauren Catanese

Life is a beautiful journey. We have a plan, hopes and dreams and we set off to see it through. We have detours, byways, time-outs and U-turns. And all along the way we question it all. We feel that if only our external circumstances would match these desires then all would be well, life would be joyful! But as I am sure you know; life doesn’t happen that way most of the time. When we hit a rock or a hard place, the mind will want to analyze everything. We begin to feel anxious and fearful. Go into doubt about our abilities and choices we make. We want to find someone to blame for our circumstances. Or we want to retreat and hide or numb our fear. But it is in the trying to do anything about our situation we will get stuck. We will feel that pain and uncomfortably feelings, the struggle, will be there. It will remain hidden inside until one day it will show itself, and it won’t be anything that you would welcome. You cannot force your way into a different life, unless you first accept wholly where you are.

Acceptance is complete recognition of your life, its circumstance, situations, all of it. To say, “No I do not like this current predicament I am in, but I accept that I am here. It obviously is for some reason. And I am going to be grateful.” It’s acknowledging your life in all its realities. You don’t have to love them or even like them, but you have to be accepting and appreciate where you are. That’s the only way you can make the next step. Which is, coming from a peaceful place of healing within you and taking small baby steps to where you want to go.

We not only accept our situation but also all the feelings and emotions that come with it. Its not being afraid to say that you are struggling. To be honest about your vulnerabilities. There is power in the release that comes from the simple words, “I am struggling here with this, and I don’t know what to do.” To get to the sweetness in life, yes, we have to go through some dirt. But the sooner you can accept the fact that you’re in the dirt and don’t like it, the sooner you will start see the light shining a path for you to follow. And so you go step by step, again fully acknowledging and accepting how you are feeling and what your are experiencing in each moment. That’s embracing life to the fullest. That’s living in full expression of who you are. Not denying any of it. But living from a place that knows and trust in life to bring right where are you are meant to be. To bring to you the people are meant to meet, the lessons you are meant to learn. Through accepting all of yourself every day, you will feel and find yourself experiencing more Joy. And maybe that is just one of the little secrets in life.

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