Say Yes to What Is

It's so easy to forget that people all behave based on fear, insecurity, circumstance, and history. All people have good and bad in them. Mostly, people have survival mechanisms that manifest in ways that often they don't even realize.

There are people I love who have acted in ways I hate. There are people I dislike who have acted in ways I admire.

I find myself asking more than ever, "what's that person dealing with?"

I don't think that I need to know the answer to the question for it to affect the way I engage them. I know they're dealing with something. Perhaps something I can relate to. Perhaps something I can't even imagine.

We all put on a brave face.

Maybe that's our mistake.

One of my favorite quotes is from Richard Rohr - "Love is just learning to say 'yes' to what is."

Truth.

Whether applied to self, to others, or something else entirely. But it starts with self. Yes is acceptance, yes is constructive, yes is acknowledgment.

Yes is admission.

Yes is just the beginning.