written by SUSAN M. S. BROWN
Perhaps the piece of advice I remember most often is "Start where you are." I first really heard it in reference to the spiritual journey, but it's pretty good advice for most any intention in life. It seems so commonsense, so obvious, that it could almost go without saying. But at a deeper level, its simplicity is not so easy. And that's where acceptance comes in. In order to start where I am, I have to accept where I am-give up my delusions and pretensions about how far I am along the path.
Whatever my resolve-learning a new piece of music, cultivating a more focused prayer life, taking more care in my thoughts and speech-when I start the journey, I'll be taking baby steps or, more likely, going one step forward and two steps back. And I will get to start over, and over, and over again. In fact, the process will be as much about coming back to openhearted acceptance as it will about "progressing" toward my intention.
The opportunity is to accept compassionately my failings and successes and -- through that experience of my own intertwined aspirations and imperfections -- to accept compassionately the failings and successes of others as well.
SUSAN M. S. BROWN is an Episcopalian laywoman and a freelance editor who lives near Boston, Massachusetts.
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