Day 110 of #LiveWell2017
Today, I read an article in the AARP magazine about Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 26 years ago. In the article he was quoted as saying:
“My happiness goes in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.”
That made me take pause, because I’ve been working on acceptance a lot lately. It’s really liberating to be able to accept what is and what comes, instead of worrying about what might be or expecting something that doesn’t happen. Acceptance is the only option when you live in the present moment, when you embrace the now.
Every day, someone gets a medical diagnosis or an event occurs that changes the course of his life and the lives of those around him. Tomorrow, it could be me or my husband or my mom or my son. How am I going to respond to that? Will I fret about the future? Will I worry and feel anxious? Maybe. Probably. That kind of suffering seems to be my first response, always.
But acceptance can help me to move through that suffering, that anxiety, that worry. Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. Acceptance means I allow myself to be positive instead of negative. I give myself space to deal with what is. I don’t fight the reality, but I work with it.
Acceptance gives us the calmness to handle the situation, whatever that may be. Michael J. Fox may be the poster-boy for acceptance. I think I might learn a thing or two from him. Acceptance is not always easy, but I’m working on it.
How about you?
Endless Seeker 
Acceptance is difficult particularly if it affects family, loved ones or yourself. Sometimes and it’s certainly not easy you have to accept that a detour in life may take you down a different path to the one you started. Good luck in your own path of acceptance.
Thank you so much for your comment. You are so right.