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Learn to be More Accepting
God Nuggets, Issue 17
"What is wrong with life often can't be righted; it is water under the bridge."
- Ecclesiastes 1:15
 King Solomon, reputed to be the wisest of all Middle Eastern Kings, had greater power to change his world than any other man living in his time. Nevertheless, he realized that some things could not be changed, even by a very powerful king . Solomon had more than 1,000 wives in his harem, so perhaps, due to that overwhelming number, he was thinking about the futility of changing someone's essence. Was it because he wanted to change his first wife's personality and couldn't, so he kept looking and looking and looking--1000 times?
All facetiousness aside, some things are quite resistant to change, and these usually include another's personality or basic nature. Certainly our behavior can be greatly modified if we are willing to learn to interpret "our reality" differently . As we've written  numerous times, our interpretations create our states of mind , and that leads to certain behaviors. These can be drastically changed if we're totally committed: Shy people can become more outgoing ; reaching out can become less painful. Risk-averse people can enjoy the rewards of new challenges (and new risks). But will someone who has a natural temperament for math or science, but is tone deaf, become a great opera singer, or vice versa? Probably not. Will a deeply introverted person become a radically extroverted person? Definitely not!
While we can change many things about ourselves, and also work with others to change, the truth is that we're "hard-wired" in certain ways that likely may not change . And that's true not just about people, but many other things.
Will politics, for example, ever be free of greed, corruption and deception? Probably not. Will the stock market ever come down low enough so that passing it up would be a major mistake-and then rise quickly next year so you can reap major profits? Not likely. So, some things just don't change. As the old adage says, " Our prayers should be for God to help us change what we can and accept what we can't, and most of all, for the wisdom to know the difference between the two!"
This is the key to a peaceful and contented life.
by C.V. Doner, PhD
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