Are you one of those people who have a lot of trouble accepting things you are not happy with? Do you spend time wishing that things were different? Do you often say things like: “I just don’t understand why…blah, blah, blah…(fill in the blank)?”
The truth is, that there are things that we just cannot change or easily influence directly ourselves. The weather, someone else’s actions or words, to mention just two…or is that three? Sometimes, something just is the way it is.
I have often found that a particular situation I have resisted later turns out to have been a blessing in disguise. The bottom line is this: sometimes things just ARE the way they are. What is, is.
Even though it may not seem ideal, there is something positive to be taken from everything that ever happens in our lives. We just have to look. If we do, we find it.
I often recall one of my father’s favourite sayings*:
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.
We would do well to take this prayer to heart; use it as a mantra when we resist those things that “just are.”
* Note: I believe this is part of Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12 Step program.
Listen to it here:
