The first person to pose the idea of “acceptance” to me was my first therapist.
You’re my therapist.
Aren’t you supposed to have the answers to how I can fix this?
Acceptance does not mean liking, wanting, choosing, or supporting.
No one is suggesting you like, want, or support whatever it is that you’re accepting.
But by struggling against the painby resisting and rejecting itwe create undue suffering.
It doesn’t mean that you’ve chosen or endorse what you’re accepting.
To make space for it.
The pain might still be there, but some of the suffering will be alleviated.
Acceptance is an active process.
It must be practiced.
Remember thatacceptis a verb.
It’s an active process, one that must be practiced consciously.
It can require effort at times (or most of the time, at least initially).
It can be frustrating at times.
It’s natural to vacillate back and forth between feelings of acceptance and feelings of resistance.
Make space for the spectrum of experience, and notice your internal critic get quieter.
Acceptance doesn’t mean that you might’t work on changing things.
Many people believe that acceptance is a sign of apathy.
However, this doesn’t have to be the case.
Practicing acceptance does not necessarily mean you won’t be able to make a change.
Acceptance doesn’t mean you’re accepting it’s going to be that way forever.
We can practice acceptance toward our experience, people, appearance, emotions, ideas, and more.
