Catch 22

"When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer, the problem went away.  From that moment on, I have not had a single compulsion to drink.  And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation - some fact of my life - unacceptable to me.  I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment."  Big Book P. 417

Acceptance:  Belief in something; agreement; assent.
Approve:  To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of. 

This is one of the most quoted passages from the Big Book.  I understand that the man who wrote the original story - Dr. Paul - came to regret his choice of words because it seemed to imply that everything was always just fine when in fact he was trying to emphasize that the solution to everything is an inside job.  If I see someone kicking the #*#!! out of a puppy I'm not going to say: "Well, everything is right in god's world."  The point is that when I'm unhappy with something I can do something to try to change it or I can step back and accept that I can't do anything to change it.

Acceptance does not signify approval.

More on releasing things . . . 
I've always understood the Eastern philosophies to emphasize impermanence.  It's healthy for me to understand that I'm not going to be here forever.  The Buddha is saying that it's all going to go, all of it - my stuff, my family, my friends, me - so what exactly are you holding onto?  I know that sounds grim in some respects but it's also very helpful.  I don't have to worry about what I have or what I don't have because it's all dust in the wind.

Grasp:  To grip; to take hold; seize and hold firmly.

I keep coming back to the idea that the tighter I hold onto something the more control it has over me: stuff, family, people, money, my health.

"The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear - primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded.  Living on a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration."  P76 12&12

That's one hell of a Catch-22.