Image by Three-shots from Pixabay.

This is Marie T. Russell, co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, wishing you a day of accepting others the way they are (today and every day).

Comment from Marie: Perhaps one of our greatest challenges in relationships (whether personal or at work or with our families) is to accept people the way they are without wanting them to be different than they are. We may think someone is too loud, too quiet, too silly, too serious, too critical, too whatever. Yet, they are simply being who they are at that moment in time.

Our role is to accept them "as is" and perhaps we can look to see what they are there to teach us. Perhaps they are teaching us to be less serious, more vocal, or more accepting. Whatever the gift or lesson, it usually lies in what is "pushing our buttons".

So the next time you find yourself being aggravated with someone's behavior, ask yourself what it is you need to learn from them... and use the challenge for your benefit rather than fall into criticism, impatience, or perhaps anger. Acceptance, while a gift to the other, is also a great gift to yourself, as it will allow you to maintain (or discover) inner peace.

InnerSelf's Daily Inspiration

October 1, 2024

The focus for today is:

I choose to love and accept others the way they are,
rather than try to change them (or judge them).

Today's inspiration was written by Joyce Vissell:

In my family, emotions were hidden. In Barry's family, it felt like they were over-expressed. There was a lot of yelling. Barry apparently coped mostly by withdrawing like a turtle into his shell.

Both Barry and I came from loving families. But they were different, as well as having their own share of dysfunction. It was shocking for Barry to sit at our family table and realize that, when he spoke, everyone else would listen to him. He wondered if he were on a different planet.

Even from the early age of eighteen, Barry knew that part of loving me was also loving my family. He couldn't change how they were, so he found a way to fit in, just as I needed to do with his family.

CONTINUE READING: Read the complete article here.
Today's inspiration was adapted from the InnerSelf.com article:

Read the complete article here.

The focus for today: I choose to love and accept others the way they are, rather than try to change them (or judge them).

Subscribe here to join me for the next installment of "InnerSelf's Daily Inspiration".

 * * *

RELATED BOOK: Heartfullness 

Heartfullness: 52 Ways to Open to More Love
by Joyce and Barry Vissell.

Heartfulness means so much more than sentimentality or schmaltz. The heart chakra in yoga is the spiritual center of the body, with three chakras above and three below. It is the balance point between lower body and higher body, or between body and spirit. To dwell in your heart is therefore to be in balance, to integrate the lower three chakras with the higher three.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book. Also available as a Kindle edition

About the Author(s)

Joyce & Barry Vissell, a nurse/therapist and psychiatrist couple since 1964, are counselors, near Santa Cruz CA, who are passionate about conscious relationship and personal-spiritual growth. They are the authors of 10 books, their latest being A Couple of Miracles: One Couple, More Than a Few Miracles.

Visit their website at SharedHeart.org for their free weekly 10–15-minute inspirational videos, inspiring past articles on many topics about relationship and living from the heart, or to book a counseling session on-line or in person.