It’s March again… This month is really special to me. So many things happened during March throughout the last 20 years. Some were positive, some weren’t. To me, March means changes, new beginnings, endings too. It’s time for me to get ready to anything and everything. And I know I will go through a lot of emotions this month….

So this week, I have to remember who I am. In order to do so, I just have to live by this truth of mine: life is an adventure. So this week, I will keep my eyes, my mind and my harms open to whatever come on my way.

Lately, I realized that my way of looking at things could change everything. And I really mean everything. It’s human to give a value to what happens to us. In fact, our first move when confronted to something, is to judge. We think in terms of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’. As I said, it’s human, it’s led by traditions, culture, and let’s say, our will and needs.

Thing is, nothing is truly ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. It only depends on the way we look at them. And we keep our mind and our heart open, then we will be able to see something good coming from what we thought was a disaster. Or we will realize that what we thought was an perfect answer to our needs was in fact right for us, at that time, but not anymore. Or we will start to see the flaws in this perfect theory. Or we won’t feel in harmony anymore with this people we felt so closed at a time.

And it’s ok. Because as we go on with our journey, we make subtle but deep changes too within ourselves. So what was true at a time, may not be true anymore now. What we felt then was real, and deed, but doesn’t vibrate the same way anymore. It changed. Because we changed.

3 years ago, I was in a really dark place, surrounded by uncertainty and fear, knowing and feeling deeply that I was loosing the center of my universe, piece by piece, without being able to do anything but being there, truly being there. Then I read this:

« L’acceptation est une alternative à l’affliction, pas à l’action. » Christophe André

« Acceptance is an alternative to affliction, not action. » Christophe André

This is when my inner journey of acceptance started. I had to accept what was going on. To free myself from this paralyzing fear, to face what was going on. We knew that time would happen. We knew how it would end, and how. There was no hope, truly. And I had to accept it. Not resigning myself and fall into the depth of despair. But acting. I then decided to live each and every second of each day we had left to its fullest. I was aware of the seriousness of the situation. I also knew that what we were living was probably the hardest lesson life gave me to live. And I accepted it. We fought till the very end, but death won. And you see, it always does, sooner or later. And it’s ok. Once we accept the impermanence of life, living has a different taste.

Acceptance is an alternative to affliction, not action. I could live by that!

And acceptance is probably my biggest strength. To be able to accept what is going on, and to take the steps forward or aside that is required to be able to go on. Because if life is an adventure, I am an adventurer. I fully accept to live. I survived long enough to make the difference between the two of them. I am not surviving anymore, because I accept what is going on with my life and I act. I am not only watching my life passing by with people, events and thoughts. I am take the step required to go on, to discover more, to understand more, to fully experiment this wonderful opportunity we are given, that is called life.

So when I accepted what life put on my path, I learned to look at things a different way. Of course, I still feel this primal, natural feeling that makes me think ‘good’ or ‘bad’ when I am confronted to something new. But I also have the ability to consider my feeling within a distance. And I make a difference between my primal emotions, and my intuition. I’ve learned to doubt the first and to trust the second.

Considering life as an adventure helps me keeping an open mind. I am open to new experiences, as I said before. I am also ready to live them. To learn from them, to grow, to go on, and to enjoy the journey.

And there is the magic of acceptance: once I accepted what was coming into my life, I felt no more fear. I really banned fear from my life. In a way, what was left to me to fear? When I think about it, each and every fear I could have felt became a reality. I had to face them, to transcend them into something more meaningful, more real. I lived through them. I survived them. And when I look back, I smile. I feel this sense of victory over each and every one of them. I am now fearless, and acceptance prevented me to create other fears to face. Because we create our fears, as much as we create our hopes, our happiness, our serenity.

So this week, I offer you to join me on my adventure. Be an adventurer too, fully experiment life with open eyes, mind and harms. And let me know what you discovered about yourself, about your own journey, about life!