Acceptance of What Is
**Epictetus**
"Do not ask for things to happen as you wish, but wish for them to happen as they do, and you will always prosper."
What troubles people is not the events themselves but the opinions they hold about them. When faced with a painful thought, be ready to say, *"You are merely an imagination and not at all what you appear to be."* For instance, when you see someone crying, be cautious not to let your imagination carry you away, persuading you that this person is truly unhappy due to external circumstances. Instead, make this distinction within yourself: what distresses this person is not the incident itself—because someone else might not be affected by it—but the opinion they have about it.
By the gods, one should train in small matters first, and then move on to greater ones. "I have a headache." Do not say, "Alas!" "My ear hurts." Do not say, "Alas!" I am not saying that it is forbidden to groan, but do not groan inwardly. Do not shout if your servant delays bringing your bandage. Do not tense up, and do not think, *"Everyone hates me."* But honestly, who wouldn’t dislike such behavior? Trust these principles from now on, and walk your path freely.
Do not place your trust in the strength of your body—it’s not about being invincible like a donkey. Who, then, is truly invincible? It is the person whom nothing external can disturb, nothing beyond their own self. (*Discourses*, Book I)
What is a Stoic? (…) Show me a man who is ill yet happy, in danger yet happy, dying yet happy, exiled yet happy, disgraced yet happy. Show me! By the gods, I long to see a Stoic. But you cannot show me such a person. At least show me someone striving to become one, someone aiming in that direction. (…) Let me see a soul, an individual willing to align their will with God's, who no longer complains about God or man, who does not falter in their endeavors, who does not encounter obstacles, who does not grow angry, envious, or jealous. To put it simply: someone aspiring to be a god instead of merely human, yearning for the company of Zeus while dwelling in this frail mortal body. (*Discourses*, Book II)
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**Marcus Aurelius**
What, then, should be the focus of our attention? (...) Accept everything that happens to you as something necessary, familiar, and emanating from the same principle and source as yourself. Surrender without resistance to Fate, letting it weave the fabric of your life with whatever events it pleases. Adapt to the events that destiny has laid out for you. Love what happens to you and the fate that destiny has chosen for you—what could be more fitting? You can free yourself from many troubles that disturb you, troubles that have no reality beyond the opinions you form about them. (*Meditations*)
If you focus solely on living in the present, you will be able to spend the rest of your life, until death, free of disturbance and in noble peace. Even now, you can possess all the goodness you seek through indirect means. (…) Simply leave the past behind, entrust the future to Providence, and guide the present moment toward holiness and justice.
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**Arnaud Desjardins**
**Acceptance is the pure and simple vision of what is, here and now.** It is the non-refusal of what is. Here and now, what is—*is*.You cannot intervene in what already is; you can only act upon what may or may not happen in the next second or minute. Acceptance involves adhering to relative reality, moment by moment, without conflict with this reality. (*Two-Way Dialogue*)
The principle that should always guide you is this: "Not what should be, but what is." And only what is, in the relative, can lead you to what is, in the absolute. There is no other path. (*The Way of the Heart*)
EN