Accepting What Is

Perhaps the greatest suffering we cause ourselves is the constant internal battle of accepting what is vs. what we want it to be. Wanting things to be different when they can't is placing ourselves in a self-imposed prison and throwing away the key.

An article in the LA Times about Los Angeles basketball player, Lamar Odom, inspired this blog because it really helped remind me of the advantage of accepting what is. I hope it does the same for you.

This year he's been moved from being a starting player to being their sixth man and coming off the bench. At first he 'expressed his disdain at the notion of coming off the bench' but 'has seen the light, his mind-set freeing him to welcome a new challenge' as written in the Times article.

Some of the comments he made in the article are indicative of what can happen when we shift internally and allow what is, to just be:

"I was watching the game almost from a coach's eye. Now I'm coming off the bench and having to kind of watch the pace of the game, figure out who's hot and who's not, how things are going."

Odom has allowed himself to accept and take advantage of the 'what is' so it not only makes a difference in his personal game but a difference for his entire team  - Kobe Bryant said, "...and you see his game flourishing because of it."

When you're faced with needing to accept what is and having a difficult time, do your best to look at the situation with a new set of eyes like Odom did. You may be surprised what insights you gain and how those insights can raise the level of your game bringing your winning results.

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what things should be.
William Hazlitt - British author