Acceptance & Your Relationships—Jan. 19
SAGe (Self-Actualized Genius)—Learn More
January 19, 2025
Sunday SAGe Newsletter Volume 18: Acceptance & Your Relationships
Happy Sunday!
Here is this week’s installment of Sunday SAGe, an email communication that shares wellness inspiration from The Wellness Ethic to help people thrive during the coming week (and beyond!).
This week’s focus is on accepting someone’s authentic self and how it can reduce friction in a relationship.
Acceptance & Your Relationships
An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:
We’re all unique people. My authentic, quirky self is different from your authentic, quirky self. I want you to respect me for who I am, and you deserve my respect as well.
So when you interact with me, expect to deal with a person who has a bone-dry sense of humor (which you may not always get, but then again, my humor confuses me as well), a horrible sense of direction (I will get us lost if you’re foolish enough to ask me to navigate), a drive to go after my dreams (it impacts my availability to do things together), and an intense dislike for cheese (I need special consideration if I eat at your house).
I told you I was quirky! Thankfully, the important people in my life accept me for who I am.
What It Means
When you accept something, you acknowledge its existence without necessarily agreeing with what it represents. You may not even fully understand it. In a relationship, accepting a person means respecting them for who they are, including their differences with you and their perceived faults. When you accept a person and their behavior, you don’t judge or try to change them.
Acceptance is a choice. When two people have a difference in values, priorities, opinions, behaviors, or personalities, both parties have a choice: Accept the difference and move on without letting it create friction, or don’t accept the difference and deal with the fallout.
Your Call to Action
To lead yourself to acceptance of another person, you can:
Embrace diversity. The universe intentionally created diversity in abundance. Imagine a world with no diversity—sameness everywherend in everything. That would be a dull world! Celebrate diversity.
Treat others how you would like to be treated. You would want people to give you space to be authentic, so return the favor.
Have acceptance be your default position. It is often the path of least resistance. Choose to accept unless you’re given a good reason not to.
View acceptance as a higher calling. Summon your SAGe and all its wisdom to determine how to get to “yes” with acceptance.
Keep perspective. Is an issue or difference with someone worth becoming unhappy to the point that your dissatisfaction festers? Or is acceptance (or tolerance) the happy path?
Choose kindness. Will acceptance help the other person without harming you? If so, create love in the universe and accept.
Acceptance reflects emotional and spiritual strength. It can bring peace to your relationships.
Have a wonderful week!
