How to Practice Acceptance in Difficult Circumstances

“Acceptance is non-judgemental awareness of what is really going on. It’s the opposite of resisting emotions and thoughts. It is acknowledging reality.”

Air Date

October 31, 2022

Listen + Subscribe

We all experience negative emotions in life. But how can we handle these feelings appropriately? Do we try to get rid of them as quickly as possible? A lack of acceptance, whether for a situation in our lives or how we feel, can hold us back from having joy. Even worse, it can sabotage and keep us stuck in a spiral of anxiety or fear. In this episode, we are talking about acceptance which we cover in our new book, Start From Joy. We’ll demystify what acceptance is and share some helpful insights on how to practice it.

Key Takeaways

Steven Hayes defines acceptance as taking a stance of non-judgemental awareness and actively embracing the experience of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they occur.
It is not giving up. Instead, acceptance is acknowledging that there is something wrong in our world.
If you don’t practice accepting reality, you will be unable to make the best choices possible. When we give total weight to our thoughts, feelings, and sensations in our bodies, we can make better decisions to move forward.
You can only practice wise action once you have accepted reality.
Allow your thoughts and emotions to exist rather than trying to numb or run away from them.
Allow the worst-case scenario to be a possibility. When we do this, we can better balance hoping for the best with the reality of our present situation.
Allow others to be wrong about us. Instead of constantly trying to manage the image others have of us, we can stop basing our self-worth on other people’s thoughts and emotions.
Remember that there are no “good” or “bad” emotions. When we practice acceptance, we can more readily let those thoughts and feelings go.