There are so many stumbling blocks along the path to peace. Some of them are pebbles, some boulders, some mountains. 

We always have choices, as we come upon each obstacle. We can choose to navigate around it, or over it, or through it. We can also choose to avoid it, to turn around, or change course entirely. No matter which choice we make, no matter which direction we choose, as long as we keep moving, we are still on the path to peace. 

But if we choose to stop dead in our tracks, and stand there bitching and complaining about the obstacles, thrashing about, kicking and screaming, no progress will be made. If we choose to stand still whining or crying about the pebbles and boulders, ‘woe is me’, then we are no longer on the path to peace. 

Instead, we are holding onto an idea of what we thought the path should be. We are holding onto our expectations of what might be. We are deluded by our images of what should’ve or could’ve been. We are sitting in a suffering of our own creation. 

The only way out of that puddle of suffering is acceptance of what actually is.

It takes a lot of strength to accept things as they actually are.  It also takes strength to accept things as they are not.

Today, I began the conscious, deliberate practice of acceptance. I took off my shirt. I placed my left hand on the center of my chest. The palm of my hand was resting over my incision. I placed my right hand on top of my left and pushed down gently.  

Tears began to form in my eyes. Not for what I felt beneath my hands, but for what I did not feel. 

I sat for five minutes inhaling and exhaling. Feeling the rise and fall of my newly flat chest under my hands. 

Breathing in I accept what is now.
Breathing out I accept what has passed.
Breathing in I accept what is.
Breathing out I accept what is not.
Breathing in I accept what is here.
Breathing out I accept what is gone.
Breathing in I accept what is.
Breathing out I accept what isn’t. 

The process of acceptance has begun.

But don’t for a moment think that my acceptance of the situation means that the situation doesn’t suck!

Acceptance is not the same as approval. It’s not the same as support, or permission.  It does not necessarily imply consent or agreement. 

It is simply the process of recognizing what is. It is acknowledging that things are, in fact, as they are, then slowly coming to terms with them, and eventually making peace.

I have to accept what is, so that I can move forward, toward peace, from this very real place.  This very real, pretty shitty place, that I will soften to and learn to accept, more every day.

With practice. My breath can move mountains.  

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Listen to my earworm.  Move Any Mountain by The Shamen. 

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