I can accept that. Can you?

What CAN'T acceptance do? What are we stuck with, no matter how accepting we become?

People are going to go on dying, being born, getting sick. People are going to keep on making mistakes. We will never get everything right, any relationship, any situation, but we can improve them, and we can enjoy life more. We will always have challenges. God made us and the world the way it is, the way we are, and the cycle of life, illness, death, and human errors seems to be the way he wanted things to be. Part of what is possible in the world and in other people is cruelty and unkindness and nature's catastrophes and the things that happen seemingly beyond our control. But whenever we accept, whatever we accept, it all helps us move on–to work, to love, to living more fully and more happily. When we accept, then we can find the energy to keep chipping away, to change ourselves, our relationships, and our world, little by little. And that's a lot.

I don't like myself at all. Changing is too hard and I don't think I'll ever be able to do it enough to like myself. But I can't accept that I'll be this way forever. What now?

Yes, you will always be you, with heartaches and challenges, and with things you want to improve. That's all you have to accept, for today, for now–that you are not all you wish you could be, and never will be. You will never be 'perfect,' whatever that means, and neither will anyone else. Based on all the evidence I see, God didn't make human beings that way, doesn't expect it of them, and isn't disappointed in them. But God does seem interested in change, diversity, variety, learning, growth, because all over the world, people are doing different things with their time on earth, with their powers and energies and lives. So choose something, and do it, by chipping away around the edges at something. Improve something. You won't ever get it perfect nor will anyone else, but for now, for today, and gradually, as mountains are moved shovelful by shovelful, as an elephant is eaten bite-by-bite, you'll make some changes in some areas that are most interesting or important to you, and so will everyone else. So what would you like to do today, with your new acceptance?