The C.A.T. Principle – Global Ebook Awards GOLD & SILVER Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014 & 2016

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Acceptance, Self-Belief and a Rising Phoenix…

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Known as the Serenity Prayer and attributed to famed American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), no words describe better the eternal human struggle between acceptance and change.

We are at constant ends as to what should change and what should be accepted. And as difficult as change can be, sometimes acceptance is the more arduous route. The mainstay, as stated in Niebuhr’s prayer, is differentiating between the two, knowing what’s changeable and knowing what’s not. This is the epitome of wisdom, a wisdom that ultimately derives from a sense of self-belief (see Self-Belief: The Key to Personal Change…).

Whether in health, love, business or career, there are always situations that don’t happen the way we’d like them to. Life is a journey of trial and tribulation; it’s never a straight line. There’s always a zig, and there’s always a zag. If there wasn’t, we’d all be living ‘happily ever after’ like a fairy tale, and that we know, is a fairy tale.

To live is to struggle, and the sooner accepted, the more liberated we’ll be. Accepting that problems are an integral part of life (remember, only the dead have no problems, or at least none we’re aware of) will bring relief from stress, worry and fear. We must welcome them, view them as opportunities; opportunities to grow and become a better version of ourselves. With problems come experience, with experience comes confidence, and with confidence comes self-belief – the prerequisite to wisdom.

Wisdom tells us when enough, is enough.  We’ve done all we can and gave it our best, but the time for acceptance has arrived. Perhaps another time and another place, things work out differently, but at this crucial juncture in time, acceptance is the sole path to take. Anything else is banging our heads against the wall and contradictory to the powers that be.

Acceptance is never easy, especially when it’s giving up something deeply sought or loved – hence the need for self-belief. Self-belief assures that somehow, someway, everything will find its way. Self-belief is the compass that keeps us on track. It keeps us on track in spite of everything to the contrary.  We may accept things as they are, but this will never prevent us from moving forward, that is, so long as self-belief remains with us.

In 338 B.C., Athenian statesman, Demosthenes, after retreating from a lost battle, uttered what today have become the famous words, “He who fights and runs away, will live to fight another day.” In the same vein, we must accept our defeats, they are a part of life, but we must never surrender to them. Just as a phoenix rises from the ashes, so must we rise from our defeats. And it is acceptance coupled with self-belief that will help us do just that…

For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a 2014 Global Ebooks Award Nominee, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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