Acceptance and Gratitude Again

Acceptance and Gratitude are two of the most important words for living.

Me and a Red-footed Booby sculpture on Christmas Island Dec 2023. I've used this as a profile pic. I think it fairly well represents who I am. Gonzo birding... hell yes.

As I have written before, in practice, of the two gratitude comes more easily for me. I am so very grateful for so much that I have done in my life. I am. I feel it and I appreciate it. Acceptance is much more difficult, at times it is painfully so. I have learned that I do not have to like something to accept it. In fact, it is possible to despise something and to accept it (not easy, but possible). 

And it’s sort of funny that I accept and believe that statement as truth and yet I hate it. The Serenity Prayer is (to me) the basis, the core, of AA, recovery and just plain living, regardless of addiction issues. It is simply some of the best advise ever written. 

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

There you have life in the proverbial nutshell. It is a simple group of words that mean so much and yet can be so very difficult to practice in everyday living. Another little group of words is, “One day at a time.” Again, not just for recovery but for life. Another sentence that goes well with that one is, “This too shall pass.” Because that is another truth. It is a ‘chiselled in stone’ truth. Every single thing “too shall pass’. Everything ends. In the television show, Dr Gregory House said repeatedly that “everybody lies”. But also, everybody dies. Both are true.

You might as well accept it, time will kill us all. Everyone and everything. Time is the cartoon snowball rolling downhill. It starts small and then grows exponentially the further along it goes until it smashes into whatever is at the bottom of the hill.

Another often used photo of me and also with a Booby. That is a live young Red-footed Booby also on Christmas Island 2023. We took the bird to the park service. It had an injured wing.

I do not know what is at the bottom of the hill. But I know for an absolute fact that I will get there, and it will be much sooner than later. I accept that. I cannot change it.

We are getting closer to the US election and I do have genuine hope. Millions will vote Harris and Walz and blue down the ballot to begin to save that country. Together.

Sending love as I do. Stay Gonzo, there are way fewer rules than you think 💙