Movin’ on UP!!!
Acceptance is not surrender, though they are kissing cousins. Surrender usually comes after all possible avenues of escape have been considered and we are exhausted from the fight. Once used almost exclusively during times of war, the word surrender is now routinely used with regard to situations that have more to do with our private battles: addiction, obesity and poverty, to name a few examples.
On the road to surrender, there is always the gentler alternative of acceptance. Acceptance of those circumstances we desperately wish weren’t happening is the first step toward turning things around.
So is surrender; it’s just that acceptance is an easier route to take.
The Law of Attraction says you get more of what you focus on. When you resist circumstances you don’t like, you are causing them to stick to you like glue. The more fiercely you fight, the stickier the Tar Baby.
The moment you take a deep breath and say to yourself, “I may not like this but I accept that it is here and may be here forever,” you begin to loosen its grip. As you begin to figure out ways to live with your reality, you experience relief. The feeling of relief is a signal that you have successfully reversed a downward spiral. Once that happens, you are on the road to different circumstances that will feel much better—your spiral is now moving up.
My friend Rick repairs computers. Frequently, they seem to be getting the best of him and I have seen him so frustrated I was afraid the computer he was working on would be hurled out a window.
Once he learned about the Law of Attraction, Rick decided to use a different tactic. When he got to a point in his work where he just couldn’t figure out the problem, he would assign the job to what he called “the fairies of the Universe.” Right before he went to sleep, he would say into the air, “I can’t figure this out. While I’m sleeping, come up with a solution and let me know what it is when I wake up.”
It never failed—in the morning he would wake up knowing the solution. The act of acceptance caused him to ask for help and he always got what he asked for.
There are those who would argue that he knew the solution all along and all he did was cause it to unbury itself from his subconscious and move into his conscious mind. That may be. Whatever the explanation, finding the solution required him to accept the fact that he couldn’t figure it out for himself. Once he did that, his spiral moved from the downward direction to up and the solution presented itself. The Law of Attraction was at work.
When you think about it, the need for acceptance can sometimes seem pretty silly. “I wish I were 10 years younger,” is nice but wishing won’t make it so unless Genies really do come out of bottles. Whether you accept it or fight it tooth and nail, your age is not going to change. By accepting it as an irrefutable fact, you become open to other possibilities. “Okay, I’m 55 years old; no changing that. What steps can I take to have the energy and outlook of a 45-year old?” Now you’re focused on 45-year old energy instead of fighting 55—in that moment, the Law of Attraction becomes your ally.
Surrender or acceptance—the choice is yours. You may also choose resistance so deep that you leave claw marks. No matter what tactic you use, you still get more of what you focus on. That is both the good news and the bad all rolled up into the Law of Attraction—accept it and move up!
