How does one practice acceptance, forbearance and forgiveness?
In order to accept, you must believe, completely, that all that comes to you, does so for a purpose - a purpose that has at its heart your best interests. You must believe, completely, that what you are in the physical is not all that you are. You must believe, completely, that the experience that you are undergoing has been co-created by you, and the reason for this co-creation shall become clear to you only when you stop resisting the experience. If you can move beyond the ‘physical’, you shall open yourself to the Now and to the Here, without labelling that moment, without calling that moment good or bad, difficult or easy. The labels we use to describe our experiences make us react, changing an 'event of learning' to an experience that we might fight. When there are no labels, every moment is a living experience, a living meditation.
When we have accepted, completely, that what we are experiencing is an event of learning, of growth, or eventual wholeness, we shall witness the birth of a strength that wells from a divine source deep within us, the Strength of Spirit that draws towards us the immense power of forbearance, and mercy for ourselves and for those others who share that event with us. In this mercy lies the essence of godhood, that is the acme of who we Are.
The mercy that walks hand in hand with forbearance radiates to all those who share the Now and the Here with us. It is this reflection of Divine Mercy that naturally leads to tolerance, understanding, and forgiveness. It is this reflection that makes us understand that we are irrevocably joined to each other, and that each one of us plays a role in the soul blueprints of all whom we meet, just as all whom we encounter, however briefly or for long periods, are playing the roles we have created for them. The parts they play construct the scripts that we, as divine beings having a human experience, have written for the purpose of our transformation, and evolution.
As I reread what I have written, I realise that acceptance, forbearance and forgiveness, are impossible as long as I am unable to break the habit of labelling everything and everyone. This conditioned response is so deep that completely unbidden these labels leap out of my conscious mind, which then reacts like a monkey to a tune it has heard a hundred times. When will I be able to rise above this habit? I don't know, but I know that my journey towards that goal has already begun. It may often be two steps forward -one step back, but I know I shall reach there, because I am more than this conditioned
mind, I am more than this physical fragility, I am more than this emotional reaction. What about you?