The Meaning of Acceptance

The moment I chose my 2024 expansion word of acceptance towards the end of last year, the lessons started rolling in – I guess intentions don’t care about waiting for the new year.

Like my car getting stolen from in front of our house.

And having the only old-growth tree on our property die from a beetle infestation (this one hit extra hard due to my love affair with plants).

Both of these events hit emotionally in different ways, but I was able to anchor down into my word of acceptance to move through these unexpected lessons.

A Lesson in Acceptance

One morning in December, I woke up and did my normal routine.

Morning cuddles with Walter and then fed him his breakfast, brewed coffee, set up my spot to check emails, opened the curtains…

As I pulled them back I looked to the spot in front of our house where I always parked my car.

No car.

I knew immediately.

We’d been dealing with a crime spike in our neighborhood (my husband’s car had previously been stolen) so I just knew it was gone.

Then I was hit with a barrage of emotions. Anger. Sadness. Violation. Defeat.

And then my word popped into my mind…acceptance.

Was I in the mood for acceptance in that particular moment? No. But was it helpful? Begrudgingly yes.

I gave myself some space to feel all the things that had come up. The strongest of which was sadness.

This was the first car I’d ever purchased completely on my own (I even went to the dealership by myself) and I’d had it for 10 years.

I bought it the same year I met my husband.

It was symbolic of many things, so I was pretty emotionally attached to it.

But I had also been pricing it out…thinking about getting a new car. The time to part with it was already coming.

When I really stopped to think about it, it felt like the universe ripped off a bandaid I wasn’t willing to tug at just yet.

The car was gone and I had two choices: torture myself with wanting a situation I had no control over to be different, or to accept what was in front of me so I could process and move on.

Choosing acceptance in this situation (I had to actively choose it over and over again) actually softened the blow and helped me move forward instead of being derailed by all of it.

Acceptance Isn’t Just for the Challenges

As we moved closer to the new year, it felt like all of my encounters with acceptance were challenges.

Things I didn’t want to happen. Situations where my hand felt forced.

But during a particularly enlightening meditation and writing session, I got an interesting message.

It was about the duality of acceptance – how it could be applied to both the good and the bad.

And a lightbulb went off for me.

One of my goals for this year is to lean into my creative outlets – one being writing long-form for this blog!

I also want to build out a shop for my photography (a years-long request I wasn’t ready to step into until now) and bring to life new self-discovery resources like a mindful habit journal.

I had a realization that I’d been holding back on these creative expressions because I didn’t accept myself as an artist.

It still feels a little weird to hold that label, but it’s one I want to fully claim.

I don’t know why it was hard for me to see myself in this light (something I’m sure I’ll dig up one day in my journaling), but once I noticed the resistance I couldn’t unsee the block I’d put on myself.

A few years ago I was gifted a tiny perspective shift (a crack in the shield) that helped me consider myself in this new light.

I was chatting with one of the most creative people I know and they told me they’d always considered me creative too.

At the time that statement truly shocked me.

But I’ve held it closely ever since and it’s guided me to explore this aspect of myself.

So as part of my journey with acceptance this year, I’m working on claiming this facet through not holding back.

The Power of Thought

The impact of our thoughts and internal dialogue never cease to amaze me.

For the past few months I’ve been practicing a form of Tibettan Bhuddist meditation where the core values are emptiness and karma.

These concepts basically tell us that nothing has an inherent value (everything is empty of meaning) and that the meaning we do get from something is the karma we apply to it (the projection of our own meaning onto the empty thing).

I feel these concepts coming through with the lessons of acceptance.

Holding focus on this word allows me to take pause with both the good and the bad. Allows me to observe what I’m telling myself about any given situation, which gives me the opportunity to choose something else if I want.

The car being stolen was meant to be insead of something that happened to me.

Sharing my artistic expressions is expansive growth instead of something I’m faking.

You get the gist.

If there’s something you want to see with new eyes, or an aspect of yourself you want to hold more firmly, I hope this gives you momentum towards that newfound acceptance.

The only thing holding us back is our minds.