Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I cannot find serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in god’s world by mistake. Until I can accept my situation, I cannot be content; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I must concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.
I do not need to be happy with things exactly as they are, but I must continue to recognize that each and every encounter that challenges my contentment is a test – or an opportunity – presented to me by god; to help me measure, mature and maintain my spiritual growth and health. In such situations, I often have the power to change myself or things around me, and doing so in a positive and meaningful manner is a much better choice than simply being upset.
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.