Accept

It was the third day of the 10 day Vipassana course that I was in. My knees were hurting as I was not used to sitting down for long periods of time with my legs crossed. The previous night, I could not get sleep easily due to the pain. 

I could not speak to anyone to find out if they were facing a similar issue. I did notice few participants getting extra cushions or backrests or even being given a chair to sit. I thought of asking the teacher as to what to do about the knee pain (one is allowed to ask any questions to the teacher at 12pm or 9pm)

When my turn came, I went to ask my teacher how best to handle my knee pain. I hope he would give me a chair to sit as that I felt would be much more comfortable. Or maybe he would tell me some leg exercises to deal with the pain.

Instead, he just said “Accept it.” Woah! What does he mean, I thought? Accept? Really?

Is he serious? I asked him what about any leg exercises to relieve the pain? He replied saying "If you get to know do tell me too."

So I decide to heed to his advice and while going to bed that night, I just say to myself I accept this knee pain. And voila! I slept better than the previous night.

What I learnt that day and in the subsequent days of the course was that not always in life did I need to react or respond to what was happening. Sometimes all I needed to do was observe and accept. And know that it will change.

To me, the chair represented the comfort that I wanted. But the teacher was firm. He said we needed to learn to bear some discomfort too.

When I returned from the Vipassana I decided to use this learning in my professional life too. If something did not go the way I had planned, I accepted that. And thought of how will it change. Even if it meant going out of my comfort zone.

So for example, I had many things planned for 2020 and when all it did not happen as planned, I accepted it. Now once I have accepted it, am focusing on what can I do differently.

So when I say accept I do not mean that you do not do anything about it. What I mean is that you do not resist something or become negative about it. You change and transform whatever you want about your professional life through acceptance.

So if you are someone who lost your job this year, accept. If you were given a pay cut, accept. If that dream job that you were going to get this year did not happen, accept. Accept without any resentment. And then think what can you do about it.

You see I believe when we accept without resisting, we channel our energy to something more positive i.e change.

So yes, your world may seem very different today. You may be in a city where you cannot move out as much as you want to. You may feel stuck physically as well as metaphorically. Accept that feeling. And then know that this phase too shall pass. And when it does what will you do? How can you adapt your plans given the situation that is prevalent? Do you have opportunities to leverage today? Will you be ready when you get those opportunities tomorrow?

My friend Ram told me one afternoon in Goa as we were sipping our coffee, stress is the gap between expectation and reality. He said it very simply but it struck me.

Many people whom I know are undergoing this stress. What they expected in 2020 and what the reality is is quite different. And for a lot of them it is not only professionally but personally too.

I believe when we accept reality we are in a much better position to deal with our stress.

So my suggestion is observe what is stressing you. Observe your feelings without getting caught up into them. Accept reality. Know that this too shall pass. And work on how you can bring about the change you want.

What you resist, persists! What you accept, transforms! – Unknown.