At the end of my talk the other day (Finding Opportunity in Adversity) I answered some questions from the audience. It struck me that many of my answers to very different questions involved the notion of acceptance. Many people feel that acceptance is about giving up or surrendering. But the only real surrendering involved is surrendering to what is in the present moment, not what may be in the future. It does not mean you want things to stay as they are or that you are giving up. Acceptance does mean that you are letting go of the struggle, or the anger or the resistance around what is. 

I mentioned in my talk that resistance and struggle create blockages and cut us off from the flow of new energy, ideas and guidance.  So in fact fully accepting a situation and moving to a place of greater peace and non-judgement is likely the fastest way to find a way to change the situation.  What a paradoxical idea - the more you surrender, the more you are able to facilitate change!

1. If you are struggling with a difficult situation you can ask yourself, how could this challenge be beneficial to me in some way, someday?  Am I supposed to learn something important from this situation (like patience or compassion)?
2. If you are having difficulty with another person, you can ask yourself - can I have compassion for this person knowing that they are doing the best they can given their life experiences and their own level of consciousness.