Ukeireru (受け入れる) means to accept, to take in, to receive what comes. It is closely related to shōganai (it cannot be helped) and gaman (enduring with dignity), but ukeireru is softer. It is not about enduring difficulty or accepting the inevitable. It is about opening your hands to whatever life is offering — the good and the bad, the beautiful and the painful — and receiving it without resistance. Ukeireru is the Japanese answer to the Western compulsion to control: you cannot control what arrives. You can only control how you receive it.

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