Truly accepting others for who they are can be painful

No, I’m not talking about the pseudo-spiritual kind of acceptance, where you know the “enlightened” answer of being accepting of all living things, while you manage & suppress your critical feelings of them.

I’m talking about the kind of acceptance where you’ve confronted that thing inside of you that gets irritated by being in the presence of someone who exhibits the same quality or characteristic that you struggle with within yourself.

I’m also talking about the kind of acceptance that, even though you love a person, you accept that you just can’t be in their presence.

Being accepting of others means that you’ve let go of what you’ve hoped someone would be like, & instead, accept who they are, who they've choosen to be, & quite possibly who they’ve always been.

The process of letting go of that hope of others being something besides who they are can be painful. However, on the other side is less suffering & eventually finding peace in no longer having to resist what is.