“Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.” – Wallace Stegner
The other I sat by an oak tree. I didn’t just sit by it. I leaned against it, touched it, and stared in admiration of it.
I was inspired to connect with the tree by a lady that I noticed in a park, who prayed and meditated next to another tree. Before leaving her solitary spot, she stood up and hugged the tree passionately, as she prayed and meditated more. As she left, I shouted out to her in appreciation and approval. She was receptive to my love.
I’ve always respected the power connecting with nature, and with trees in particular. I’ve written several poems about trees, years ago.
I always feel the presence of God in trees, but seldom do I reflect deeply on trees to gain virtues and understanding, as I did recently. I believe that trees have lessons to teach me. The other day I engaged and received the inspiration for writing about Acceptance.
If you think about it, nature is accessible to us all as a gift to our spiritual awakening. Trees and all of nature is unencumbered by a consciousness, opinion, or ego. We can’t say that about ourselves but constantly go to each other for guidance and direction.
Trees and nature, in general, surround us and are readily available to speak to us, if we know how to communicate without words. Nature is untainted, as we are. Instead of wondering or worrying about whether the people in our lives are of ‘true spirit’, we don’t have to with trees. Trees and nature are undoubtedly of ‘true spirit’. The only spirit that they possess is of God.
Connecting with God’s divine love in this way is beneficial on many levels, and in many ways, in health, in spirit, and in wisdom. In health connecting with nature gives us uninterrupted access to God’s life force. We can gain access to health benefits by accepting nature’s undeniable hospitality through, for example, its bioelectrical energy, and simply by eating as close ‘to farm’ as possible.
Dr. James Oschman Discusses Earthing or Grounding – 128,236 views – Mercola – Published on Jan 6, 2011
Over 1 Hour Long – http://articles.mercola.com/sites/art… Internationally renowned natural health physician and Mercola.com founder, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. James Oschman discuss the process of earthing, which is also known as grounding, and how it can help improve your health.
In spirit, reflecting on the arresting nature of a tree’s proud stance, we can also learn to love ourselves and to stand proudly in whatever shoes we may find our feet. In wisdom, trees can teach us to bend with the wind, and not be so damned rigid, when faced with adversity.
Grounding: One of the Most Important Spiritual Practices You Will Learn – 20,230 views – Sarah Hall – Published on Nov 30, 2013
Feel free to post any questions you might have on this topic in the comments below. To practice your grounding now, watch my Grounding with the Fairies Meditation: http://youtu.be/lm91D1oq5R4
3 Hacks for Grounding Yourself: Most Powerful Grounding Techniques – 119,947 views – Aaron Doughty – Published on Dec 19, 2016
In this video, I share with you three ways that I ground myself. I don’t just share them with you, but I actually take you with me, and I show you the exact things that I do that I’ve learned how to ground myself into the present moment. Now first off, the thing I want to do is share with you what grounding really is. Well, grounding is when we anchor ourselves into the present moment. It’s when we really connect to the present energy of who we are.
Grounding/Earthing is the name of the practice of connecting with nature, just as I did a few days ago. It is highly beneficial to achieving holistic health and gaining a deeper spiritual awareness.
The Earth carries an enormous negative charge. It’s always electron-rich and can serve as a powerful and abundant supply of antioxidant and free-radical-busting electrons. Your body is finely tuned to “work” with the Earth in the sense that there’s a constant flow of energy between your body and the Earth.
When you put your feet on the ground, you absorb large amounts of negative electrons through the soles of your feet. The effect is sufficient to maintain your body at the same negatively charged electrical potential as the Earth.” – The Effects of Grounding – Dr. Mercola – November 21, 2015
As I look to trees, I know that they are connected to the divine source.
I am so confident of this because, trees endure well through the challenges of environmental disregard, winter, storms and scorching heat of the sun. Since they have no choice but to remain stationary and do not have free will as we do, they rely on God for its endurance, steadfastness, and Acceptance. They Accept existence as it is, and work from there to survive. I want to be like a Tree!
Trees don’t attempt to change the obstacles before them, as I do. They accept them and in spite of them blossom into a beautiful expression of God in springtime, after surviving its winter trials.
I can learn a lot from trees. Though I have free will, it doesn’t mean that I must always exercise it. Most times, I simply have to Accept my obstacles and challenges, and trust that God will help me to endure through them.
The problem for me, prior to my spiritual awakening, was that I thought it was my task to eliminate my obstacles and challenges. I aimed, in my mind, to destroy that which challenged me, believing that I had such power. I did it with force and resentment, determined not to be defeated! I didn’t win though for a very simple reason. I could not defeat the universe. I could not defeat God.
Any attempt to fight ‘what it’ therefore resulted in a tremendous waste of time, energy, and emotions.
Today, I Accept my life as it unfolds. Often I have discovered unexpected treasures beneath the ashes of my battles.
I am therefore more welcoming to them than I was in the past. The ordeals that I experienced with my family’s unscrupulous deeds against me and my elderly mother, with friends, lover’s betrayals and even discrimination initially led me to think that I could and needed to ‘fight’ and defeat those adversities. I was wrong back then. Fighting alone never defeats ‘the enemy’.
Trying to do so exhausted me, and made me very ill. And more importantly, I was not spiritually grounded, as I am today, when I took on the battle. I had to learn-as-I-go. There are rare times when we must fight, but we must always take on our battles as spiritual ones, not personal ones. I learned this lesson through my encounters with betrayer. Thank you, betrayers!
In the past, I wore myself out fighting in vain. And after all that effort, today, most of those who posed adversity on my life, remain as they ever were. They have not changed.
Had I not changed, I would be in the same cycles that I found myself in back then. Thank God that I did.
Now, I am more accepting. I learned the virtue of Acceptance, relative to Surrender by having a silent conversation with a tree. See I told you that nature makes us wiser!
“Humility means accepting reality with no attempt to outsmart it.” – David Richo
“Acceptance doesn’t mean that life gets better; it just means that my way of living life on life’s terms improves.” – Sharon E. Rainey
I did not start accepting life as it unfolded until I kicked my own ass trying to fight it.
I failed miserably on this mission. It was when I surrendered to God’s will on those things that I could not change, that I began to see the light. When I accepted ‘what was’ I freed a tremendous amount of healing, tranquility, and faith in my existence.
Those things that I no longer fought seemingly magically disappeared. Once they were no longer my worry, I used the newly gained energy, peace, and spiritual wisdom to work around the obstacles, until I achieved full victory.
A residual benefit of my Accepting, as nature does, was that I had become more discerned, and connected to God. I became like a tree.
“ 34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” – Hebrews 10:34 King James Version (KJV)
Poem
“I gain wisdom, healing, and spiritual energy from my deep conversations with nature, with neither of us ever saying a single word.” – Kevy Michaels
Like A Tree
Kevy Michaels
I want to be Like a Tree
Grounded to the soil
Nurtured by the Sun
Stationary
God has chosen It’s Station
And it’s non-resistant
Bendable, but only when necessary
Seasonally losing everything that defines its Identity
But always returning to a greater Majestic Beauty
It is welcoming to all who find refuge
In its Tranquility
…Always standing firm
Even through ferocious storms
And when it can’t endure
Fighting the Battle any longer
It surrenders…
But does so gracefully
But not without planting a seed
So that its spirit lingers until time ends
Thank You, God
For giving me the Tree
Thanks for showing me
Just how you want me to be
God, I want to be like a Tree
“Non-judgment quiets the internal dialogue, and this opens once again the doorway to creativity.” – Deepak Chopra
I stand to be corrected. I may have confused Acceptance with the virtue of Surrender. Though some may believe that they are one in the same, I believe that they are related, but are not the same thing.
I see Surrender as something that I only do relative to God. Surrender is what I do when in the midst of the trials or barriers that I know I alone cannot overcome. Surrender is, in faith and trust, turning problems over to God in sincere confidence
Acceptance, on the other hand, is much more generic.
Acceptance is not feeling a necessity to solve or defeat my day-to-day challenges and bumps in the road. Acceptance is more like saying ‘It is what it is (IIWII).
Whereby I only Surrender to God, I can Accept the existence of anything coming from any source that is not for my ‘greater good.’ On the latter, I just no longer exhaustively attempt to change it.
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” – James 1:19-21
Here are some of the things that I can Accept today, that I once could not:
- Accepted: Racism exists and may exist forever as long as mankind has free will.
Offensive Strategy: Don’t waste needless energy on its mere existence. Work through the system in spite of. Use it to become undeniably better.
- Accepted: The greed of many people will never cease.
Offensive Strategy: Never sell your soul for a pot of gold, or you may lose it forever. Stand for principle, even if standing alone.
- Accepted: There are good and bad people in every race, religion, creed, and ethnicity.
Offensive Strategy: Don’t attempt to tell them about themselves. They know who they are. Don’t waste time trying to change them. Don’t allow bad people to evoke anger. Become keener in identifying them, and stay distant from their energy. Allow God to navigate you on a path where good people also journey.
- Accepted: Some people have no conscious and can do deception and dishonesty and feel no emotions about how they may have harmed another.
Offensive Strategy: Don’t tell them about themselves. They know who they are. Don’t waste time trying to change them. Don’t allow deception to evoke anger. Become keener in identifying it, and stay distant from that energy in people you meet. Allow God to navigate you on a path where good people also journey.
Accepted: Conventional medicine, politics, religion, and media are often dishonest and misleading, with an agenda.
Offensive Strategy: Don’t allow gaining popularity with the crowd to dictate your beliefs. Do your own research including alternative sources in your database. Ask God, refer to his principles, and your experiences to discern truth and go with it, even if you must go it alone.
- Accepted: Not everyone will ‘inherit the kingdom of God’.
I believe that many will not, and not exactly as stated in bastardized interpretations of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. It is shameful how this particular scripture has been manipulated and intentionally misinterpreted by the ‘fake-faithful’, in many versions of the Bible, with no regard for history, language, and most importantly God’s non-negotiable word. Research it one day. I have.
Offensive Strategy: You spiritual experience is yours and God’s alone. Don’t allow others to impose their philosophies on you, especially if they demean your very existence. The judgment that they attempt to put on you, like a monkey on your back, maybe for them, not for you. Believe what you want to believe, in God.
- Accepted: I am who I am, as I am.
Offensive Strategy: I am unashamed of who I am and who I’ve become. I accept my flaws, mistakes, as openly as I accept my accomplishments and victories. There isn’t a person on the face of the earth who holds the power to make me feel unworthy. No one is righteous. …No one!
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 King James Version (KJV)
Quotes On Acceptance
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu
“Detachment means letting go and nonattachment means simply letting be. (95)” – Stephen Levine
“As I get older, the more I stay focused on the acceptance of myself and others, and choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.” – Tracee Ellis Ross
“For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
“Acceptance of one’s life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.” – Paul Tournier
“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” – Michael J. Fox
“Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.” – William James
“Tolerance, compromise, understanding, acceptance, patience – I want those all to be very sharp tools in my shed.” – CeeLo Green
“These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.” – Ricky Martin
“We recognized a principle that applies to every devoted disciple: strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives—even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. Certainly, John and Heather would desire, yearn, and plead for healing with all of their might, mind, and strength. But more important, they would be “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [them], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19). Indeed, they would be willing to “offer [their] whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26) and humbly pray, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).” – Accepting the Lord’s Will and Timing – Elder David A. Bednar – By Elder David A. Bednar – Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
“Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” – Deborah Reber, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
“There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.” – Cesar Chavez
“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” – Lao Tzu
“Marriage equality is about more than just marriage. It’s about something greater. It’s about acceptance.” – Charlize Theron
“Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are.” – Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously… I’m Kidding
“’Star Trek’ is about acceptance, and the strength of the Starship Enterprise is that it embraces diversity in all its forms.” – George Takei
Related Videos
The Difference Between Acceptance and Surrender | SuperSoul Sunday | Oprah Winfrey Network – 228,368 views – OWN – Published on Nov 17, 2013
Poet, best-selling author and cancer survivor Mark Nepo believes no experiences are wasted. So when we are faced with the unexpected, what is the difference between accepting the situation and surrendering to it? Watch Mark’s explanation and find out how to find out which path to follow. For more on #supersoulsunday, visit http://bit.ly/1tNw5dg
Surrender vs. Acceptance – 316 views – Ariana Bahret – Published on Oct8, 2017
Surrender vs. Acceptance. Is there a difference? Absolutely! Hit Play to learn more and learn how to easily move through challenges in your life.
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Leave life alone, let it be! And find sanity
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https://www.huffingtonpost.com/pavel-somov/acceptance-isnt-surrender_b_619539.html
The Difference Between Acceptance and Surrender – Project Meditation2 Comments – October 25, 2017
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