Acceptance As A Lifeline

By Ken McIsaac

"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will." - Epictetus (55-135)

Sometimes when an enormous problem does not have a solution, determining exactly what the worse possible outcome can be, and accepting that it has happened or will happen, will result in a great release from anxiety.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - A version of the Serenity Prayer

If it has already happened, what can be learned? It is the experience of surviving disasters and carrying on, that makes us wiser and stronger. If it is going to happen, all the worrying in the world will do nothing to prevent it. Worrying about something that we cannot change will only make us feel stressed, nervous, and sick.

"Things without remedy should be without regard; what is done is done." - William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Could it possibly be that it is not as bad as you think it is? Next year will you even remember it? Will anyone else? Will anyone else care? Resignation is an important ingredient in the formula of life. It makes an impossible situation acceptable, a major problem minor. Resignation should be waiting to take over whenever there is not a way out.

"Endurance is the first thing that a child ought to learn, and that which he will have the most need to know." - Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

"If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart." - Socrates (BC)

© 1999-2003. This article is an excerpt from "32 KEYS: A Collection of Ideas About Life". The online book summarizes summarizes basic popular self-help ideas and quotations.

It is free to read online at http://www.32keys.com

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