Acceptance

Our world seems to be in chaos! This morning, I watched a video of a mom who doesn’t know if her son is alive or not, but knows his arm was blown off by Hamas. I don’t usually talk about politics, because it is so distressing lately. But this mom had a message for the world, which I believe is so critical to how we show up in our lives. She said, she didn’t want to just ask for help for her son as she addressed the United Nations asking for Red Cross support – to have more information, to know whether he was alive or not. She wanted us to remember that we are all human beings. She wanted help for all the children, all the mothers, all the families that are being killed and tortured.

You see, the easy way out is to choose a side and choose hatred. This group or country is right, and that one is wrong. These people are right, and those people are wrong. But when we do that, we loose sight of the fact that we are all human beings. We are all spirits in a human body having a physical experience. And we are all ONE. This statement means that as we do to another, we do to ourselves. and our loved ones.

Most of us are far removed from what is going on in Israel and Palestine, and some of us are not. Regardless of where you are at, I invite you not to take the easy way out – don’t choose hatred. It’s a hard pill to swallow, isn’t it? “But what is happening is so wrong, and I don’t agree with it,” I hear you say. And I agree with you.

What if there is another way though. Whether you are close to this or not, it is a world issue that we are seeing in all places and spaces, in so many countries, and people, in many different ways. We are steeped in FEAR, and we are allowing our fears to guide our behavior.

When I thought of the mass tragedies going on in the world, I thought of the word ACCEPTANCE. What if we accepted others, instead of choosing sides? What if we loved instead of hated others? What if we all came together for the good of every single human being, because we are one? Now, this doesn’t mean that we agree with what is happening, or with the actions of people that are harming others. And we can still choose love. Because hatred and fear will be what keeps dissention alive. Love is the only thing that will help dissolve it.

So practically speaking, what does this even look like? It first must start with you! You can’t truly love another if you can’t love yourself. You can’t accept another, if you can’t accept yourself. We must look inwards to ask the questions, what am I not accepting in myself? Maybe you hate the way you look or feel in your body. Maybe you don’t think you’re successful enough.