Live with Radical Autonomy & Acceptance.

This started as a small thought process that I had been practicing for a decade or so (radical acceptance) and expanded as I learned how to practice it fully.

The news is a lot. Constantly. And it’s mostly out of our control as individuals. Humanity moves forward as an aggregate but we remain individuals. I can’t stop atrocities happening everywhere, I’m not even a powerful enough individual to stop homelessness outside my front door. So I accept that. I look at what’s in front of me and I react.

Radical autonomy sounds like anarchy but it’s not. It’s accepting the consequences of my reactions. If some ill-will happens to me because I let three seconds of anger dictate my next move, I have to accept whatever fallout happens. Thus, I have to intercept it first. That’s what’s autonomous, that’s what’s radical. I’m in control of my body and I’m in control of what emotions I let dictate my actions.

I act with intentionality, I accept the consequences of my action. I let go of the things that aren’t in control.

I’ll let Camus sum it up best:

“My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”