As anyone will tell you, these are not easy times, and as I look back over my own life over the past three years, I’m pretty impressed I made it through! I’ve had a variety of life-changing experiences compressed into three short years: the birth of my son, the loss of my beloved dog, my partner’s unemployment (which pushed me to take on the role of breadwinner and all the adjustment that involves), the move to a new house, and the illness of my father. All of these experiences could be viewed as stressful, but looking back, I noticed it wasn’t so much the big stuff that I reacted badly to — although it was very draining — but all the little stuff in between: the sleepless nights and subsequent tiredness with a baby who wouldn’t sleep when I wanted him to and who turned into a toddler who wouldn’t rise at a time I would consider suitable, my own deteriorating health, far too many trips to the dentist for my liking, and too many arguments with my partner as we struggled to adjust to all the changes and uncertainties.

Resistance Can Be Exhausting

It’s funny how we can accept major transitions like death and illness in those around us, especially when it is expected due to old age. What we don’t like is when things deviate from our preconceived ideas of how they should be. We get annoyed if it’s freezing cold in May — which it has been here in the UK — because, surely, it should be warm. Or we are thrown off course when our bodies play up and don’t perform in the way we want them to. Or we become stressed if our children don’t tick all the health visitor’s boxes, despite the fact that as mothers and fathers we instinctively know that each child is different and will reach the required milestones when they are good and ready. And yet once we let go of how things should be and accept them as they are, miracles can happen.

I experienced this recently when I realized that in constantly wishing my little boy would get up at 7am instead of 5:30am, I wasn’t accepting him as he was, and that due to a particular aspect in his astrological chart, this could in time lead him to feel not good enough or inadequate. I instantly felt acceptance for him, and the very next morning he slept until 7am, and the next and the next. In the weeks that have followed, I am enjoying experiencing the miracles that acceptance can bring, as well as realizing how exhausting resistance can be.