Wisdom

"Paul talks about 'fighting the good fight,' and I know he means 'to have fought well,' but could one actually be fighting a 'bad fight'? Of course we can. We spend our life energy fighting all the wrong things. If you are fighting your reality, not fighting to make it better, but fighting to make it not be yours right now, then you are engaged in the wrong battle. If you are not accepting where you are so that you can chart a path to where you know you need to go, you are not fighting the right fight." --Anita Renfroe, If You Can't Lose it, Decorate it (And other hip alternatives to dealing with reality)

Wow. I read the above passage this morning as I was standing at the bathroom sink, brushing my teeth, waiting for the shower to warm up. (Yes, we keep books and magazines in every bathroom, and I read almost every second that I'm not in the shower.)

As I was taking a quick shower (Starbuck was wailing in the background, and Aaron was getting up to get her, but I think he fell back asleep for a few minutes...) I pondered this passage. Because my spirit has been on this subject lately. Acceptance of where you are. Acceptance of who you are. Knowing what you can and cannot change.

And I'm struck by how much I obsess over that I cannot REALLY change. For instance, my height. Ok, I can wear tall shoes. But I'll NEVER be above five feet tall. In fact, I'm going to start shrinking someday. I need to accept this. Then there are my thighs. Oh, I can get in shape, run, lift weights, all that. My thighs will be toned. But they're never going to be the size of my upper arms. And I've just got to deal with that.

Beyond the physical-- I can't change the fact that those that I love are mortal and must someday leave this earth. I have to accept that and stop fighting.

When I think of all the wasteful ways in which I expend my energy, I have to cringe. There are days that I feel totally drained, simply because I've used all my energy to fighting battles that are impossible to win.

"Celebration is more a state of mind than an event, and I believe that anyone can learn to be a celebrator, even in the celebratory gene isn't in your DNA or wasn't expressed in your growing up environment."

Blitzkrieg just wrote a blog about happiness, and doing whatever makes you happy. Read it, please. She makes good points. We allow ourselves to be influenced by too many external things, we allow ourselves to get caught up in fighting the battles that we have no business fighting. Instead, we should be celebrating life and finding our joy!!!