A Voice Unheard- Part I: Prose

Acceptance

When you reach this point in your life where nothing much really matters, there are several interpretations of this state of mind. There are those who would say you've become jaded. Others would say you have lost the sense of purpose that once guided your thoughts and actions. Some might even say you have "copped it" or "given up". A few might proffer the suggestion that it's just a phase...... a phase of what?

Somehow, when you have been through so much in your life, I believe it hardens you, not to the point where you cant feel anything at all, but just to the point where your threshold of feeling things - good or bad - is much higher than everyone else. For example, you might not get as excited about things as others or you may just be in a perpetual state of excitement because you know the value of that happiness in a world like ours. Or you might be always wary and things won't hit you as hard as they do to other people, because by then you have seen it all. Nothing really worries you, when you compare it to the larger scheme of things. It varies from person to person.

Personally, I feel this "phase" is the best. It means you have matured enough to know how to accept things as they come. It means you have learnt that nothing, and I mean nothing is in your control. It means you have learnt to balance out your whimsical, utopian Disney land notions with a heavy dose of reality and the truths of life. It means you can be happy and sad without letting either emotion affect your emotional equilibrium. It means you have one constant state of mind that can't be swayed by the flashes of emotions, while being able to feel things like every other human being. It's a nice "phase" where you learn to be more accepting of the way things are around you.

Why is this acceptance so important? It is SO VERY important. It is so inextricably linked to your sanity and peace of mind that without acceptance, your mind will constantly be in a state of tizzy. Your mind will attach the happenings of the world to your self - esteem and your feelings and your outlook on life, and then a vicious circle will start. It is the circle that leads you to never being happy. Contentment and inner sources of happiness are the only way to traverse the road of life. Psychologists would call this "locus of identity" stating that it could either be external to us (where we see ourselves as others see us) or internal (where we see ourselves only according to our own intuition). I like the later choice. And the only way to get to that second type of having an internal locus of identity, would be to accept things that are in your control, and the things that are not in our control. A calm acceptance of life's many vagaries and vicissitudes and highs and lows, is the only way to live peacefully, and happily. You cannot change everything. And more often than not you cannot change anything, but yourself. So change yourself to be more accepting and more understanding that you are your only means to "survive" and "exist" or to "live". The choice is with you. Acceptance is the best way to make the choice :)