Learning the Gift of Acceptance from Our Children

I want to live in a word where we can all just accept one another, where we can agree that we are all different and just let it be.
To be able to see each person for who they are and be OK with that.
To be happy to live with all this wonderful diversity in our lives and to start to celebrate it.

Why is it so hard for us to accept how some people are?

Acceptance is not the same as agreement, we don't need to agree with others, but we do need to accept them for who they are.

I am all for bringing about change, but that must be on a personal level. We can not expect to change other people and it is not our place. Yet so many people, put so much energy into trying to change others. Forcing their opinion's on them, pushing their ideas. Expecting them to think and act like them.

Why?

Why do we feel so uncomfortable with anything that is so different, as if that difference is challenging our own way of life. We have these deep embedded fears for anything that goes against our way of living. But preaching to others, attacking them is not the way to deal with this.

I see my children, I hear them interact with others and I am always so proud of how they are able to accept others and very importantly themselves They of course see things very clearly, they don't complicate stuff. To them people are just the way they are. They can disagree about something and move on. They can see a difference and accept it. They easily accept themselves, accept who they are. It is as adults that we introduce this self doubt, this seed that makes it hard to accept.

I recently asked one of my daughters why she didn't speak up about something and she told me, 'well because I'm shy, I'm not like my sister'. Which is true she isn't and of course I know she isn't. My first thought was to try and tell her that she should speak up, and maybe she should, but then, here I am trying to change her.

There is nothing wrong with being shy, I was shy when I was growing up, and in some ways I still am. To my daughter being shy is not a problem, so do I really want to put that idea into her head that it is. To introduce self doubt. To introduce the idea that we all need to behave in a certain way?

The above may seem like it is pretty insignificant, but if we cannot accept ourselves how can we accept others. If we grow up in a home where we are not accepted, then that will lead us on to a life where we find it very difficult to accept others. When we accept that we are different than others, then we can happily accept other peoples differences.

Growing up in an environment where we are compared to others, where we are taught that we have to behave in a certain way in order to be accepted within society. Where acceptance of the ideal, is more important that the acceptance of self. From such a young age so many of us have been forced into this 'ideal'. Of living a way that society says we should. We have been told that wanting to be different, going against the tide is wrong. That anyone who goes against 'us' is wrong.

But guess what?

We are all different, our paths are all different and we no longer need to judge ourselves according to what society tells us. So I don't look, feel or think this way. This is who I am! And guess what I'm entitled to be that way and so are you.

We all have our own personal beliefs, they are what make us who we are. And we got to these beliefs because of the life that we have lived. They are true to who we are, your beliefs are true to who you are. I may not agree with them, but then I have not lived your life.

Image Source:https://tgpdenver.org/

If we are having difficulties in accepting others, then maybe what we are seeing is the difficulties we are having in accepting ourselves.
When we become more aware about our own insecurities, then we can work through them and move forward.
We can then start to look at how we really see others.
We can chose to go down a path that takes us away from being so judgemental.
We can embrace that child inside of us all and accept others for who they are and move on!

I felt inspired to write this post after reading @eco-alex post today. Please check it out, if you have not done so already. https://steemit.com/steemit/@eco-alex/an-open-letter-to-all-steemians-and-especially-whales

I am part of the ecotrain, if you wish to read great content and be inspired please check it out. It is one train that is full of very diverse and creative passengers. And we all know that diversity is the spice of life.