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Philosophical Question
I came across this book about acceptance, and how its at the center of everything. Basically it said that true happiness can be reached if one accepts his/her own reality as it is. Then I came across this quote that said "Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference" which also preaches acceptance I guess. So I just wanted to know opinions here. Is acceptance the true secret to happiness or what other theories of reaching happiness have you come up with? I'm feeling a bit philosophical I guess...
thanks =)
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In my opinion, the only acceptance that is the center of everything has already been given. Jesus died for your sins, therefore, allowing you to pray to God for acceptance and forgivness. If you are truly wanting acceptance to make you happy, pray to God. Maybe find a nice church to settle down in.
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I believe that a person makes his/her own happiness. If your unhappy with yourself, change it, and sometimes you can't so you should accept it. I guess I believe the philosophy that you stated above.
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Acceptance is one of the strongest elements in the equation of happiness, it's true. You have to accept the world for what it is before you can work towards making it what you want it to be.
we all want to believe that our life is our own, that we start from scratch building up the life we want. But that's not the way the world works. We have to accept the life we are given, and use what we have to create a world thats as close to our dream as we are capable of getting it.
So i guess you could say acceptance is in part the way to happiness, but i think the true route is compromise.
Understanding what you have, seeing what you want, and combining the two to make your dreams possible.
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My opinion to your question is yes, acceptance is the true secret to happiness.
What you quoted is a prayer called the Serenity Prayer popularly used in Alcoholics Anony. This is a great prayer for everyday happiness too I think. I think if you can learn to accept life- all aspects, you can be happier. This can be very difficult because there is an infinite things in life needing acceptance. Just a few:
For other people regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
For your own personal social status as well as that of others, including the very wealthy to the homeless.
That there is evil in the world that we can try to contain, but cannot defeat (alone).
People we love, and ourselves for that matter, die.
This is very deep and philosophical. It is so much easier to play the blame game. If you accept that "life happens", this can help. It is perfectly natural to go through the steps of mourning, grief, anger, depression that life often forces us to face. But ultimately we should look for acceptance and with it, peace.
There is one other line of "philosophy" I like to think about which is from the book of Romans. I do not have my Bible close at hand but it basically states: Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us while we were yet sinners!
This is to say, if we are not accepting of others for any reason, are we saying we are as good as or even better than God? If someone is going to be condemned, it is for another time and place. Not here and now. We should love and respect our neighbors because they will will have their time to explain themselves if need be.
Hmmm. There's my philosophy for the day.
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