def: The ability to coexist with something without suffering.
When I can coexist with something without suffering, I have “accepted” it.
Accepting something doesn’t mean I like it, or prefer it, or seek to sustain it. It just means that I am at peace within myself, while it exists, just the way it is. I recognize that I don’t need it to change in order for me to be okay (as much as I may want it to change).
What I’m called to accept could be…
A person
A situation
An obstacle
A movement
A political philosophy
A state of mind
An emotion
A physical sensation
A physical trait
A memory
A history
If I believe I can’t live with it the way it is (and there it is), I give it all my power and make myself a prisoner of its existence. I avoid it, go to war with it and carry my opposition to it everywhere I go, robbing myself of options for what I can do, what I can think about and what I can hold in my heart. When I can’t accept something, my world shrinks. I am no longer free.
When I recognize that I have the ability to exist free of suffering while it also exists, I return to peace and reclaim my ability to move freely in the world. And that freedom allows me to meet everything with love, which in turn gives everything the freedom to fall right into alignment with me (which doesn’t mean it will - and when I’m sane I can accept that).