Weekly Inspiration - Acceptance

This week I thought I'd combine my newer Weekly Inspiration feature with my old Quote It Saturday feature (though today is Sunday) and get our inspiration from two quotes from one of my all-time favorite books, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (review at the link - no spoilers). I only just read this book in January, but I absolutely loved it, and it immediately rose to the top of my favorites list!

In the novel, Ursula relives her life over and over again (I love that kind of plot), and each time she dies (and she dies a LOT), she starts over again, being born in 1910. She's only aware of these many lives in a hazy sort of deja vu way, but, as you can imagine, this kind of experience makes her somewhat philosophical. Here are two of my favorite quotes/thoughts from Ursula:

"'Amor Fati,'" Ursula said. "Nietzsche wrote about it all the time..."

'Love of fate?'

'It means acceptance. Whatever happens to you, embrace it, the good and the bad equally. Death is just one more thing to be embraced, I suppose.'
          - Ursula in Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

"Life wasn't about becoming, was it? It was about being. Dr. Kellet [her therapist] would have approved this thought. And everything was ephemeral, yet everything was eternal, she thought sleepily."
         - Ursula in Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

I like the Nietzsche concept (perhaps I should read some of his books), and I thought it applied perfectly to life with chronic illness. Stuff happens - in every life - and if you want to be happy, you need to accept what happens, embrace it, and learn to live with it. I think the second quote is a similar concept - to focus on being, rather than becoming. Live in the moment because each moment is fleeting. We can't live our lives waiting for what is coming or we will miss everything.

If you are looking for some great summer reading, I highly recommend Life After Life and also the companion novel Atkinson just published in May, A God in Ruins, about Ursula's brother, Teddy (no, he doesn't relive his life, but there are still some surprises). I just finished that one, so I will try to post a review this week.

(And, by the way, both books are over 400 pages so qualify for my Big Book Summer Challenge, so if you plan to read one of them - or another big book - this summer, sign up for the reading challenge and join the fun!)

What do you think about these quotes? About acceptance? About being rather than becoming?

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!