14 May How to Practice Radical Acceptance
Life doesn’t always turn out how we’d like.
And accepting this is a crucial part of happiness and positive mental health.
Acceptance isn’t the same as resignation, or giving in. But rather, the active acknowledgement of reality and the active acceptance of all, good and bad, is necessary for real positive emotions such as happiness and stable health and wellbeing …
via Psychology Today by Tchiki Davis
KEY POINTS
- Radical acceptance is accepting what is not under our control and embracing what is happening now in a non-judgmental way.
- When we wholeheartedly and radically accept emotional or physical pain, it can reduce suffering.
- Radical acceptance is used to discourage clients from having reactive behaviors and encourage them to respond to situations skillfully.
Source: Marcos Paulo Prado/Unsplash
Cowritten by Zamfira Parincu and Tchiki Davis.
There is a famous saying that “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.” It suggests that pain is an inevitable part of life; suffering, however, arises from not accepting the pain.
What makes this quote helpful is that it not only discerns between pain and suffering—two concepts we often use interchangeably—but it also recognizes that we have power in the face of challenges. We have the power to accept.
Radical acceptance is accepting what is not under your control and embracing what is happening now in a nonjudgmental way. When you wholeheartedly and radically accept emotional or physical pain, it can reduce suffering.
Marsha Linehan, a leading psychologist who introduced the idea of radical acceptance into Western societies, sums it up:
Radical acceptance rests on letting go of the illusion of control and a willingness to notice and accept things as they are right now, without judging. [It is a] complete and total openness to the facts of reality as they are, without throwing a tantrum and growing angry (2021; p. 503).
Therapies that include radical acceptance are designed to stop the clients from having reactive behaviors and encourage them to respond to challenging situations skillfully. For example, it has been shown that these therapies can reduce substance use and relapse (Bowen et al., 2012), anxiety (Roemer et al., 2008), suicidality (DeCou et al., 2019), and chronic pain (Hann & McCracken, 2014). However, radical acceptance can be learned and practiced outside of therapy. In fact, this strategy can help people accept themselves wholeheartedly, increase their well-being (Kotsu et al., 2018), and have positive weight-loss benefits (Lillis et al., 2016).
How to Practice Radical Acceptance
Here, you can learn more about steps you can take to develop radical acceptance skills (Taitz, 2021) …
… keep reading the full & original article HERE