Acceptance: The Root of Power

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, or worse, as his portion; that though the universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The message here is to accept ourselves on every level, to accept our backgrounds, histories, perceived weaknesses, and disappointments as well as our hopes, dreams, and desires. The building must arise from the foundation, the very bottom of our being with no pretense.

To truly accept what you have - your gifts, your experiences, and your chronic shortcomings - is no simple matter. But this is where your riches lie, for no one can duplicate your experiences; no one is born under the exact same set of circumstances, and therefore no one else can make the same contribution to the world that you can.

No one can do what you can do. No one can take your place in the universe. If an idea or a way of doing something is truly your own, no one else will steal it. It is yours and will amplify your power.

To be abundant is to accept the validity of your destiny, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant. Such an embrace of your uniqueness generates a presence that flows out over your heredity and environment and creates unforeseen opportunity. This is as true for one's so-called weaknesses as it is for one's apparent strengths.

When we feel loved by life itself, we begin to feel that there will always be a place for us in the world.

~Rick Jarrow