Everyone wants to be accepted; the basic truth of every being. Whether you are of a particular culture, a particular color or race or your beliefs are different from everyone else. Acceptance is our bottom line. How did we get to a place in our society where we place judgment on others who don’t act like us, talk like us or think like us. Could we be attracting the kind of social malfunction by our very thoughts about each other?

The first line of defense in any non acceptance situation by another being is indifference. That presents itself as “it doesn’t matter, that’s ok, and I don’t care” we say to ourselves. “I don’t need them to like me.” Then in turn comes their judgment in response “who are you to think you know what is right and what is wrong?”

As human beings we can accept the diversity of nature; snowflakes, leaves, animals, rocks, the terrain of a mountain. We never stand in judgment of nature. When was the last time you might have said “what is up with that snowflake? It’s different from the others.” Or comment even to yourself that a squirrel doesn’t look like a cat.

We reserve judgment and non acceptance for people not nature. Why? We are all God’s creations, individualized on purpose with a purpose, just like nature. How can we honor each others diversity and receive honor ourselves? What could we learn from that uniqueness coming from a position of non-judgment?

What are you tolerating?
By Sue Birkam
Freedom Life Coaching Company

Tolerating can be anything that takes your attention or energy away from you. It can be as simple as chipped paint, a pile of papers or a disorganized closet. It may also concern people in your life, such as disrespectful attitudes from others or of your time, daily disruptions and overstepping boundaries.

Toleration’s can literally take over your energy if not handled. Every time you have to take the time to rummage through that closet or pile of papers looking for that one pair of pants you just know is in there, or that receipt that you have to have before you walk out the door, re directs your thinking, frustrates and literally throws you off kilter. Even the simple things like paint chipping or a loose door handle, a blown out light bulb that diverts your attention even for a moment towards the object that needs repair, can drag you down.

You can start to eliminate toleration’s immediately by simply beginning the process of identifying what things are in your way on a daily basis. Once you have listed your toleration’s, draw three columns on a piece of paper. The first column will be your toleration, in the second column, list your strategy for changing that toleration so that toleration won’t re-visit you for the next five years. In the last column list your resources to accomplish your strategy. An emphasis should be placed on the system for keeping that toleration from cropping up again.

Start anywhere on your list, the first week might be one or two toleration’s that you will handle. When handling the toleration you may ask yourself what needs to take place in order to simplify or to, create a system. One example might be mail or paper work that has gotten out of control. Resources listed might be creating files in advance and labeling those based on what you know you will need to keep. Anything not labeled on your files will get thrown out or shredded.

Making a date on the calendar to do this sorting and tossing only once, even if it takes eight hours, schedule this on a calendar and do nothing else. You may also set up a one hour per week maintenance program for this paperwork, where one evening for one hour you will either file or toss out paperwork using your system. It takes approximately three weeks or more for the average person to change a habit.

As you move through this list, you will experience a relief, more time and even more energy. You will feel liberated from the things that have been dragging you down. The best part is you won’t ever want to return to the way you functioned before.