don't give up

“But she knew, though very vaguely, that she was crying, because hope hurts terribly when it breaks through the resignation in which you have lived for days.”

 Ursula K. Le Guin, Planet of Exile / Mankind Under the Leash

____________________________________________________

I wonder sometimes

Am I in the world of acceptance

Or resignation?

And what is the difference?

I hear a lot about acceptance

I teach acceptance (for God’s sake, literally)

We accept our thoughts

We accept our feelings

Not thereby meaning we like them, or think some of those

Awful things that haunt us are acceptable

But meaning that we know they are there

That feeling!  Be it anger or joy

There are no such things a negative emotions by the way

An emotion is just an emotion

We all have them

They just are

And so I say to myself these days, 

“Oh, I am having a human moment!  I am feeling anger, or sadness”

Acceptance means we notice what is.

We let go of the things that will not help us along the way

And we keep walking

One foot in front of the other

Carrying with us, sometimes

Heavy things

Pain or sickness

Fear or hate

But still walking

And some of us keep walking believing we are not alone

That something Sacred inside us dwells

Something that moves and empowers

Which guides (or nudges) and calms

And that something changes our relationship to what we encounter

And changes our relationship to what we carry

The Sacred, call it God if you will

Doesn’t cause our burdens, or created trials to be overcome

That is not divine will

That is human willfulness….

But the Sacred enables us to accept

Let go

Carry

But keep moving

Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe

Ever onward toward those things we value (love)

Ever onward toward those people we love

Ever onward toward the person we want to be

Resignation?

That is giving up and giving in

That is sitting by the side of the road, mostly alone

Surrounded by our baggage

And waiting

Either for death

Or for someone to save us

(Sadly the someone who shows up is often

A person like Donald Trump

Who takes the place of the Sacred in our lives

Promising to take us someplace new and better,

but which is usually neither new or better)

Resignation is getting stuck in a loop

Of fear and hate, guilt and regret

Making choices that keep us spinning, but never moving on

Acceptance is not easy

It is often no fun seeing the world as it really is

And ourselves, as we really are

But there is power in knowing we have choices

And that we can keep moving

Toward who and what we love

It is easy these days to be resigned

To say “why bother”

To give up

Don’t

Try acceptance on for size

Be present in this world

Notice what your brain tells you, accept what feelings come your way

Then do what you care about

anyway