“…Which means appreciating them just the way they are.” – I am really not there yet!!! Don’t know if I ever will be. I mean I am not sure if I can “appreciate” people the way they are. Accepting…..yes. I am trying.
I found this image on social media a couple of weeks ago. I have been wanting to write a post on this subject for some time now but just wasn’t able to figure out the right start to it. This image provides exactly that. 10 years ago – I wasn’t the person I am now. I was extremely judgemental and highly opinionated. I had very rigid ideas as to what was right/wrong or how thing ought to be. I have bitched about some close friends behind their backs for the choices they made(…and i regret it now). The realisation that everybody is – after all, a product of their circumstances over which most of the times one may have no control – came a little late.
I don’t know why I was like this. Was it my upbringing? I was conditioned to think in a certain manner. I’ve never been a close minded person but just this one bit. I can’t pin point to what transpired this change. But whatever it was – am more happy and peaceful now than I used to be. Really – once you start accepting people the way they are – you also start accepting yourself the way you are. Then you don’t try to be someone you’re not. And once you’re there – once you reach that state of mind – you experience a level of comfort with your own self – that you’ve never experienced before. You’re at peace with yourself. You’re happy. At least that’s what I feel.