Everybody.  Everything.  Everywhere.

I pray for Everybody.

I pray
For Everything.

Absolutely
Everywhere.

Every tree.
Every frog.
Every person.
Every animal.

The wild ones
That roam our 
Fields and woods.

The snuggly ones that 
Snore and drool
On our couches.

Prayers for
All of us.

Everybody.
Everything.
Everywhere.

That we might
Be safe.

That we might
Be present.

That we might
Ride the waves
Of our lives,
No matter what
We
Are
Given.

Least I forget—
I pray for myself.

I pray for
For this aging body
That I inhabit,
At times a secretive mystery,
At times, a deep home.

I pray to relax
And enjoy
And feel
And live
Fully,
No matter
What
Is
Happening.

As best I can.
~~~
Acceptance!

I’m thinking about
Acceptance.
It seems 
A timely 
Topic. 

Here’s a great line
From AA literature:

“Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.”

The Big Book, p. 417,
4th Edition

Acceptance is one of those wacky practices, accordion-like, billowing and expanding and opening and changing, with time and air.

Here’s what I believe to be true about acceptance.

• Acceptance is not synonymous with liking.  
• Liking what’s happening and accepting it are different entities, different responses.
• Acceptance is surrendering into reality, with silence and stillness.
• Yet accepting is not a passive practice.
• Partnered with skillful action, acceptance makes action more impactful, more effective, more rooted.
• Acceptance of the outcome of your action is an essential part of the journey.
• Acceptance cannot be the doorway to spiritual transcendence.  Wrong direction, sorry.
• Acceptance is the doorway to feelings, to reality and to life on life’s terms.  That’ the direction of integration and wholeness.
• Reality wins.  We might as well, eventually, make our way toward the winning side.

How do I practice this?
Well, personally, sometimes I must first suffer.
Sometimes I must struggle and wail and complain and push against what’s happening
Sometimes for me, acceptance is simply the aftermath of my own willfulness.
I think of Ken Nelson, a lovely and wonderful Kripalu teacher, who teaches:

“Let go or be dragged.”
~~~
Three questions for you,
Dear friends,
Dear students:

• What is easy for you to accept in your life?
• What is difficult to accept?
• What benefit, what gift might be available to you in your inevitable surrender?

~~~
It’s a good week for acceptance.
It’s a good week to remember the fluidity of life.
All is impermanent. 
All that is happening
Will pass.
~~~
This song makes me so happy.
I played it compulsively while driving around Berkshire County this week.
It is a celebration of impermanence.
Its joy is contagious.

And—what a good week for acceptance.
What a good week to remember impermanence.
What a good week for joy!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT—play this loudly.
Jump around.
Listen to the JOY!

~~~
Friends,
Let’s take the Serenity Prayer*
Into this upcoming week:

God,
Grant me the serenity
To accept
The things
I cannot 
Change.

The courage
To change
The things
I can.

And 
The 
Wisdom
To know
The difference.

May all beings benefit from our shared words.
With love and respect,

Aruni
~~~