Quotes About Acceptance

There are two rules for living in harmony. #1) Don't sweat the small stuff and #2) It's all small

Inner peace is accomplished by understanding and accepting the inevitable contradictions of life—the pain and pleasure, success and failure, joy and sorrow, births and deaths. Problems can teach us to be gracious, humble, and patient.

Your job is to try to determine what the people in your life are trying to teach you. You'll find that if you do this, you'll be far less annoyed, bothered, and frustrated by the actions and imperfections of other people.

You'll also notice that, as you reach out and let others be "right," they will become less defensive and more loving toward you.

One of the cardinal rules of joyful living is that judging others takes a great deal of energy and, without exception, pulls you away from where you want to be.

Change the things that can be changed, accept those that cannot, and have the wisdom to know the difference.

Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It's absolutely true that "Wherever you go, there you are.

The need for perfection and the desire for inner tranquility conflict with each other.

Praise and blame are all the same is a fancy way of reminding yourself of the old cliché that you'll never be able to please all the people all the time. Even in a landslide election victory in which a candidate secures 55 percent of the vote, he or she is left with 45 percent of the population that wishes someone else were the winner. Pretty humbling, isn't it?

The truth is, we don't know what's going to happen—we just think we do. Often we make a big deal out of something. We blow up scenarios in our minds about all the terrible things that are going to happen. Most of the time we are wrong. If we keep our cool and stay open to possibilities, we can be reasonably certain that, eventually, all will be well. Remember: maybe so, maybe not.

Humility and inner peace go hand in hand. The less compelled you are to try to prove yourself to others, the easier it is to feel peaceful inside.

So many people spend so much of their life energy 'sweating the small stuff' that they completely lose touch with the magic and beauty of life.

If you do, there will come a day when you'll rarely feel the need to do battle at all.

The next time you feel low, for whatever reason, remind yourself, "This too shall pass." It will.

Most of us spend too much time wishing that people would be other than they are.

Love your plant whether it blooms or not, whether it lives or dies.

Remember, when you die, there will still be unfinished business to take care of. And you know what? Someone else will do it for you! Don't waste any more precious moments of your life regretting the inevitable.

One of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself is, "Do I want to be 'right'—or do I want to be happy?" Many times, the two are mutually exclusive!

The sooner we accept the inevitable dilemma of not being able to win the approval of everyone we meet, the easier our lives will become.

Rather than stumbling and fighting against their negative feelings, they are graceful in their acceptance of them.

Accepting people's quirks or flaws doesn't just take changing them off your to-do list—it also gives you the time and energy to change the things you can.

You don't need to change your core beliefs or your deepest held positions. All you're doing is expanding your mind and opening your heart to new ideas.

If we all based our love on our children's behavior, it would often be difficult to love them at all. If love were based purely on behavior, then perhaps none of us would ever have been loved as a teenager!

The more patient you are, the more accepting you will be of what is, rather than insisting that life be exactly as you would like it to be.