Love. Acceptance. Surrender.

Love. Acceptance. Surrender. All three go hand in hand and they don't have to be in this order. They coexist in equality. Honestly, how can one say that Love is more important than Acceptance or Surrender. Or that Surrender is more important than Love. Or that Acceptance needs to be elevated above the other two.

And I don't think you have to try to practice all three at the same time - you can pick and choose, depending upon your situation, why be overwhelmed. Focus on one and the others will fall into place naturally, escorting us through our lives, all walking side by side, arm in arm. I also believe that in those moments when I am experiencing despair and am discouraged, Love, Acceptance and Surrender will carry me through it.

Albert Camus once wrote:  
Don’t walk in front of me … I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me … I may not lead.
Walk beside me … just be my friend.

My friends are Love, Acceptance and Surrender.

When I reflect back upon my own journey, I believe that I started with Surrender. It was the easiest one for me. I learned to Surrender to the here and now, to learn that every challenge is an opportunity for growth. It's not that I made myself into a doormat. That is a false perception of Surrender. Surrender is about being willing to put myself into a situation or environment that I perceive as uncomfortable and then I Surrender to my highest potential. I walk to the edge of the cliff and then Surrender to the possibilities, known and unknown, and when I step off the cliff, I trust. I trust that what is going to come will serve my Highest Good.

For Love, I began by nurturing my Inner Child. Allowing the wounds from my childhood to come to the surface, I picked away at the scabs to find the source of the wound and then Loved my Inner Child no matter what. We watched Disney movies, we ate Oreo Cookies and drank Milk, we colored, we danced, we sang at the top of our lungs, we got dressed up and went on adventures. I nurtured her and healed her through Love. And I have been extremely blessed because my Mom and Grandmother taught me unconditional love. I learned to be gentle with mySelf, just as my Mom was gentle with me.

Last but certainly not least … Acceptance. Something I practice every day. I practice this with others and I practice this with mySelf. It has cultivated compassion within me ... and it has cultivated a level of creativity so that as I work with others, I accept them, learn what makes them tick and then help them realize their true potential. Acceptance doesn't mean walk away and suck it up. Acceptance is about seeing someone's Light, that shines behind the layers of "stuff" that they are throwing up as a distraction. With Acceptance, it doesn't mean that I am patient all of the time. As I said, it's what I practice. 

Everyone wants to be Loved and Accepted, however in that desire to have it come from the outside in, we must first Surrender to the awareness that we are vulnerable and we must find the Love and Acceptance of the Self first. We must do the inner work before we can truly see it in our outer world.

So start with one and the rest will follow. It's simple. In those moments when you catch yourself having a negative thought about yourself or someone else or even the situation at hand, replace it with one of these:

I ACCEPT myself as I am & the world as it is.
I LOVE myself as I am & the world as it is.
I SURRENDER to myself as I am, & the world as it is.