The Art of Acceptance: How to Thrive Amongst Life’s Challenges

From the moment that you are born on planet Earth, you become qualified for challenges, adversity, and problems. It’s a lot for a human being to handle sometimes! If you want to live life on the highest possible level, you have to master the art of acceptance.

First of all: Realize That It Isn’t Just You

Have you ever experienced a rainy day (or month!) where life seems to be coming after you? You had to call a locksmith to get your car keys, you were late for work, and then your boss was unusually grumpy. Newsflash: all human beings go through periods like that.

When life is repeatedly hitting you hard, it’s easy to take it personally. It can feel like the universe is giving you an unfair treatment. However the first step to mastering the art of acceptance is to realize that all human beings go through suffering.

When you are having a fantastic day, guess what? Someone else is having the worst day of their life and feeling helpless. When your day is going terribly, someone else is feeling on top of the world.

Trust That Everything Is Meant to Happen

Saying that everything happens for a reason may sound a little bit too cliche. However, there happens to be a lot of truth in the phrase. One of the most empowering mindsets that you can take on is to trust that everything is happening for you and not to you.

Here’s an example; have you ever had a break up and somebody broke your heart?

You may have been so heartbroken that you hated life and you seemed to reach the highest possible level of despair. In contrast, did the same heartbreak turn out to be a blessing in disguise? Perhaps that person was selfish or emotionally abusive.

Eventually, you realized that the very intense short-term pain was actually a gift in disguise. So, what if the same concept applies to other periods of suffering in life? You see, every challenge or adversity is only a gift in disguise. If you look hard enough, you can always find a gift that’s hidden in a negative event.

Pain Is Inevitable & Suffering Is Optional

While pain is certainly inevitable, suffering is merely an option. Whether or not an uncomfortable event in life creates suffering is purely psychological.

While you cannot control whatever happens to you in life, you do have complete control over your interpretation of every event that happens to you.

Don’t overthink it and wonder to yourself if anything is really a gift or not. By adopting the mentality of “everything is a gift”, you’ll condition yourself to have faith that everything is positive in some way, shape or form.

The Miracle of Surrender

The ego always wants to keep playing victim. Your mind will always throw thoughts out to you, such as “Why do bad things always happen to me” or “It isn’t fair that this happened to me”.

The humbling truth about reality is that many things in life are outside of your control. You have only influence at best.

By realizing that there are many aspects of life that you cannot control, you give yourself permission to stop worrying about it. Realize that the act of worrying about events that you can’t control is creating unnecessary suffering in your life.

Stop overwhelming yourself with the unnecessary belief that life is against you. Millions of people feel that way, so clearly life has not singled you out as a victim. If it did, then why do so many other people go through the same situations as you?

Do your best to create the best possible life for yourself, but surrender to what is. Allow everything to be as it is and allow the universe to unfold as it wishes. Trust that whatever happens is meant to happen for the betterment of you and everyone else.

Recap

The art of acceptance is easier said than done! With that said, you can become a master of it. Realize that problems are not unique to you and happen to everyone. Trust in the universe, surrender, and allow everything to unfold as it is meant to happen.