gb

Does acceptance make you happy?

10 January 2021 by
Acceptance Acceptance
Rate this item
(0 votes)

I have been working on processing my Happiness questionnaire for a while, and up until now I have quite often met the word ‘acceptance’ among the answers

as one of the most important things that we need to be happy.

 

But how can everything be accepted as it is?

 

That’s what human nature would be like, that we desire something greater all the time, especially in the consumer society, in which we live? Indeed, we are forced by ads to buy more and more products, to want a more specious house, a bigger car, a better job or a new mobile phone, and to never be satisfied with what we have.

 

But in this constant effort to get all of these, we don’t realize that life is passing by, we don’t concentrate on experiencing the small pleasure of life and spending time with our loved ones. I truly beieve that if we accept what we have and feel gratitude, we will feel happier too.

 

When somebody is on the verge of bankruptcy, it can actually be considered as a possibility, or a lesson. It is a new challenge, a new opportunity to recover and revive your life, as many successful people also lost everything before. However, to start building again from the basics, to form dreams into goals is full of challenges and fear, but it helps to accept the situation if we appreciate what we have, our family members, friends, or just a place where we can sleep, the food we can eat.

 

This is why accepting ourselves is also incredibly important. Nobody is perfect, and everybody makes mistakes. But the continuous self-knowledge, the self-development, forgiving ourselves and others will ultimately bring us balance and happiness.

 

Of course we can also suffer bigger losses than the material things and the lack of self-knowledge. The death of a close family member is the first on the stress list, and divorce is considered to be the second. Usually it is the hardest to cope with these events, but it’s not impossible. I went through both myself, but time and accepting that things don’t happen to us by chance was a great help.

 

And finally I would like to share a well-known story with you.

 

In one of the chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry encountered the magical Mirror of Erised. If we read it backwards, it means ‘’desire’’. Whenever somebody looked in the mirror, it reflected what the heart truly desired. For example Ron saw himself winning a Quidditch game. As for Harry, because his parents died when he was a toddler, he saw them being around him.

 

When Dumbledore was asked how the mirror worked, he said:

 

‘’ The happiest and most satisfied person in the world would look in the mirror and see a reflection of himself, exactly as he is... It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.’’

 

We have to believe that it is possible.

 

So thanks to those, who let us know that acceptance is necessary for happiness. Dreams and goals are needed, but if we just fight for them all the time and never stop, if we don’t accept things around us as they are, including ourselves too, we miss the opportunity to be happy and satisfied, and to see a reflection of ourselves in the Mirror of Erise, exactly as we are.

 

 

(The Hungarian translation is available on www.onbizalomfejlesztes.hu.)

 

 

 

Latest news

Don't have an account yet? Register Now!

Sign in to your account

Don't want to miss anything? Get updates on the newest stories, articles and tips right in your mailbox. Subscribe now !

Please enable the javascript to submit this form