The gift of being human is that we’re sort of part animal and part consciousness and we have the choice to live like the animal or the choice to live as a conscious being. I always have the choice to resist life, resist what is, or to take responsibility for my own state of consciousness and choose to accept what is.

And the amazing thing is that when you can truly accept what is, you enter a state of peace. And then, and only then, does something even more amazing occur - you actually can experience joy in the thing that you didn’t want to do. Suddenly, by accepting that I’m going to play with my daughter, I can enjoy and laugh that in my house Jafar, from Aladdin, is in love with Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast. I can play with my daughter with vigor, attention, and presence of being. If I’m just dreaming of the time when I get to be done playing, I’m literally wasting my life. I’m wasting these precious moments, and whether I have cancer in my blood, or get into an accident or live a long life, life will always be too short.

Acceptance is not easy. Sometimes, I just don’t want to do what I’m doing. But acceptance takes practice, and you have to make the decision again and again and again. But on the other side of acceptance is peace, and on the other side of peace is joy, and who doesn’t want to experience more of that.