Acceptance

"Life has made the gift, and we are to accept it in the way it was made and not some other way," Ernest Holmes.

This similar teaching comes down to us from many great thinkers. Joseph Campbell says similar things in his interview with Bill Moyers. Buddhist teaching tells us not to resist what is. I notice in my caregiving capacity that some of my angst comes from not accepting what is, especially when it shows up in a new form of decline. It seems human nature to try to maintain the status quo, but life is change; and in living with dementia, life also shows up as decline of functioning. So, to accept what is while maintaining the best quality of life -- that perhaps is the balance.