They say that if you are standing on a ladder and you fall, don't grab for anything on your way down. Let yourself fall to the ground as grabbing at everything around you is less likely to stop you and more likely to cause you more bodily harm.
Of course, I've only heard them say this about being on a ladder on the side of a house anywhere from one to three stories tall. I have never heard if this is the same thought process for being on one of those fire truck ladders 10 stories up or a ladder on top of a television tower or something else very very very tall, but I understand what they are trying to say.
I can't exactly tell you who "they" are other than that they are several different people I have met in my life, including one relative. So, I guess I lied in that I can tell you who one of the "they" in question is, but, honestly, is it really necessary?
C'mon, by now, if you keep up with me at all on here, we need to have reached a level of trust where, if I use "They" as a reference, then you must accept that They are experts in their field. Who They are is moot, just know that I trust them and I accept their advice.
But that, is exactly the point that they were trying to make; "that" being to Accept! Well, honestly, I think that their point was "if you're falling, let yourself fall and don't grab at stuff that will hurt you or rip off fingers or even arms and stuff."
Which I, of course, heard as "if you're falling, Accept that you are falling and let yourself go. It may not be very pleasant when you hit, but you're just going to make things harder for yourself if you fight it all the way down!"
They are pretty wise!
And this is one of the cores of my personal philosophy. It isn't always easy, but, I have learned that quite often, I have to accept what happens to me and the world around me. Fighting it just doesn't help me.
It's very peaceful when I can let it happen.
Someone cuts me off in traffic... I can certainly vow a vengeance upon them and pray for them to suffer some horrible turmoil in their life like, a flat tire, or, death by papercuts, or something like that.... but that does me no good other than getting my blood pressure up. I can return the favor and speed around and cut them off, but that just makes me as much of an ass as they are... So, I must accept that it happened and just let it go. Their foolishness affected 5 seconds of my life and I'm fine.
My daughter is growing up... I can fight it all I want, but it IS going to happen and she IS going to grow up and become her own person. So, I can offer her guidance and I can pick her up when she falls, but I have to accept that she is going to grow up and make mistakes. If I fight it, I'll just push her away.
My dog feels she needs to put a paw on my face at 5:10 am because she thinks I like that (and she is sorely wrong)... Well I can either react to it, which is all she wants, and get mad at her and get up, or I can accept it and roll over and ignore what she has done. She may only do it 10 or thirty more times, but eventually she'll stop. Sure, I could get rid of her but that takes me back to pushing my daughter away.
Really, getting a pet and then getting rid of a pet can upset a child a whole damn bunch!
So I accept things. I accept that I have to go to work. I accept that some people feel the music in their car needs to be heard in every car around them. I accept that delicious foods tend to be rather quite bad for me. I accept that I am going to have to walk for at least thirty minutes tomorrow because I ate some delicious food today. I accept so much.
And those are little things. In the past few years I have had to accept major traumatic events like the deaths of family and friends and divorces, only one of which was my own but most of them have been for the wrong reasons and they are all sad to witness and live, and THE CUBS which also is often traumatic for the wrong reasons and is always hard to witness and live.... I could go on.
In fact, I think being a Cubs fan is a great thing to be if you wish to grow up with a mindset of acceptance. Sure, I could pull for another team or I could just bitch about the Cubs, but I find that if I just accept what happens to them every year, this will humble me and encourage me to simply accept what I enjoy as well as what I cannot have. And if one day they do win the series, I will be thrilled and I will accept that no more goats will need to be sacrificed!
Anyway, I seriously do believe that a path to peace within ones self (aka "inner peace" which is much shorter to type but used way too often) lies within being able to accept the world around you and the things that happen without your influence. I say influence becuase I am not entirely convinced "control" really exists.
It may sound depressing but we all have our ladders to climb, and we all fall. Quite often, we are pushed! How we handle ourselves during the fall may not lessen the blow, but it will aid in how soon we are able to get back on our feet and start working our way back up that ladder.
I accept what They have to say to me. I learn so much from the people around me.
But, just for the record, I may accept that that guy cut me off, but that doesn't mean I like it; perhaps, just a few paper cuts?
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