There are many ways of handling life’s difficulties and challenges but ultimately you meet them all with only one thing—your own mind. A positive mind sees opportunities for growth and upliftment in every difficulty.
This is the focus of this article.
Acceptance
The most important thing that will help you move forward is acceptance. It’s here, you have to deal with it. Why waste time and energy in finding out why things are the way they are? Or why people are the way they are?
There are some things which you just will never find the reasons for. You have to accept them first so that you can give your total attention and energy to dealing with them.
Why it’s hard to accept
Often you cannot accept something because:
- You haven’t actually stopped to really think about the person or situation and allowed it to sink into your consciousness. In other words, you’re in denial.
- You haven’t actually stopped to really think about your part in this situation. Again, you’re in denial.
- Your personal prejudices, desires, emotions and expectations prevent you from seeing things as they are.
Acceptance of a situation is the gateway that allows your mind to come up with viable solutions. You can’t deal with anything that you don’t see.
Ask yourself, “Will the problem go away if I fuss, complain or resist?” Of course not. Why not go through it with greater acceptance and equanimity?
How to Accept
Put aside some quiet time to be by yourself when you will not be disturbed. Bring a timer and set it for a minimum of 30 minutes. Promise yourself you will stay with it even if you begin to feel anxious or overwhelmed by the flood of worrisome thoughts. You may want to put on some soothing music or do some deep breathing to calm yourself down.
Once you are feeling calmer, start writing down your thoughts about the troubling situation. Writing helps to organize your thoughts and helps you see things for what they are. Our thoughts tend to be repetitive and begin to feel heavy on us. Writing them down helps to lighten your mind and organize the troubling jumble into smaller, more manageable chunks that you can actually see.
Now, when you can see things for what they are, the next thing is to calm your emotions. Place your hand on your heart, take a deep breath in and as you exhale, say slowly and deliberately, “I accept… I accept…I accept…”
Now, you may feel you are lying to yourself. You don’t accept; you’re just mouthing it. In this case, invoke the presence of the higher power – you may call it whatever you want – God, Angels, All-that-is, or the Universe. The idea is to call on something higher and more powerful to help you.
Close your eyes and say, “Please help me accept…(say the problem).”
Pause for a few minutes, take a deep breath and repeat, “I accept… I accept…I accept…”
If emotions start rising up, say to yourself, “I am at peace. I choose to accept”.
It’s amazing how this simple thing can calm you down.
Finally say, “I now open to receiving help in dealing with ….(your problem)” Stay hopeful and positive.
Give the universe a day or two to organize some help for you. An idea for a solution may pop into your mind, you may receive an email, hear from someone you hadn’t met in a while, see something on TV – anything can come as an answer to your call for help.
Remember, once you call upon the Higher Power, its ways are literally infinite. Never lose hope.
Staying positive
The mind, like a river, has a tendency to flow downwards. Even if you’ve been able to come to accept a situation, the mind easily slips back into fear, worry, anger, hate, and a host of other lower emotions. To raise up your mind, you must feed it a steady diet of high, loving and positive vibrations.
Staying positive helps you remain open to receiving help and support. It will help to calm and elevate your spirits so you can better handle your concerns.
Be in positive company in all aspects of your life. Everything that you take in through your body, mind and senses must be high and positive. This includes the people you spend time with, the type of food and drink you take in; and also what you listen to, watch, read and study.
Striving to stay positive in all aspects of your life is in itself a powerful spiritual discipline. Always stay alert to this. Be very vigilant and don’t allow any low, negative thoughts or emotions overtake you. Also, be watchful that what you say is never negative.
Here are two powerful ways to keep up the good vibrations:
- Morning habit: Set aside some time to read, and more importantly, reflect on some inspiring and uplifting thoughts and affirmations first thing in the morning. Reflecting on what you’ve read internalizes it and makes it your own. It will colour your vision as you go through your day.
- Nighttime Habit: Always read or listen to something soothing, inspiring and positive before you go to sleep. Never compromise on this. The reason is so that the positive vibrations will stay in your subconscious even as you sleep. Your first thought in the morning is always your last thought at night.
In a nutshell
When handling your challenges, acceptance is the key that unlocks your resources from within and opens you up to receiving support from without.
Then, it’s crucial to keep your mind happy and positive with high vibrations in every aspect of your life. A healthy, positive mind is the best tool you can ever have in meeting the challenges of your life.
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Simply written and well understood …. Will put into practice. Thank you.
Thanks Natasha. Glad to know you found it useful.
You are true teacher on Spiritual knowledge, I am follower of Dada Vaswani, Pune, your teachings are resemblance to Dada.I am also on the path of Enlightenment.Thanks
Thank you for your kind words. My teachings are not my own; they come from my guru, Swami Chinmayananda and other great spiritual masters like Dada Vaswani. That’s probably why you are seeing the similarities. I too revere Dada and his teachings. Glad to connect with you.