Acceptance – the other half of mindfulness (video)

Main points:

Mindfulness is made up of awareness of the present moment and acceptance.

Acceptance means many things but we can see it as

• not struggling against experiences that you can’t win against
• or that are not worth the effort.

Something that is over and done with it an example of an experience you can’t win against. We fail to accept such experiences by going over and over them in our minds.  This can bring us a great deal of emotional pain sometimes for many years.  When you accept the experience it doesn’t mean you approve of  it. It means you let it be, that you are no longer fighting a battle that is over and done with.

Something that is not worth the effort might be red traffic lights on the way to work, a late delivery of an item that isn’t really all that important or your teenager’s untidy bedroom.

Acceptance not only saves us a lot of emotional energy but is sometimes necessary for the sake of our relationships. People in long-term relationships have various differences that are not going to change and the capacity to accept these differences could spell the difference between a long and satisfying relationship or a short one. (Some differences, of course, are ‘deal breakers’ and long term relationships cannot survive them in any satisfactory way-  for example domestic violence.)

If we accept that we have an addiction then we are more likely to do something about it. Very often the road to recovery begins with acceptance.

Acceptance is not about surrendering to what you should not surrender to and it is also not about putting up “walk all over me sign”. It is about a more skilful way of living your life, of saving your energy for what you can actually influence and of letting those things be that it is better to let be.

My online course Easy Mindfulness will teach you more about acceptance and about all aspects of mindfulness.

Image by Ankush Minda

8 Comments

 Michael Grehan 29/8/2016 09:27:19 pm

What a brilliant 3 minutes on ACCEPTANCE. As it happens, I’m struggling with accepting an inevitable episode in my life as a senior citizen.
Many thanks Padraig.

PS I’ll be keeping an eye out for any more videos on acceptance.

ReplyMary Maume 17/10/2016 10:48:54 am

I must say Padraig that the few minutes helped me to put aside worries that I cannot do anything about and allowed me to be still and be present to all the wonderful things that I can enjoy in my surroundings.
Accepting things that we cannot change gives us serenity of being able to tolerate the pain or misfortune without the added bitterness or blame that is destructive.
So thank you for those words that help us to live life as it is, not as we often wish it should be. When we cultivate this,we can enjoy the beauty around us and the people who make our lives worthwhile.

ReplyCheryl moreno 22/2/2017 11:32:03 am

Thank you so much for the free instruction i have a disease which doesnt allow me to access your courses but your free online daily posts are allowing me to work on a debilitating childhood love and kisses cheryl

ReplyMike Mcgee 20/11/2016 02:29:49 pm

Wonderful. Wonderful. A good pocket tool to carry around. Will use in my daily activities. Thanks.

Replymary murphy 30/1/2017 12:42:42 am

a great video and found it beneficial

ReplyTeresa flavin 20/5/2017 09:37:50 am

Wonderful piece of advice.I felt an instant calm listening to this video and how much sense it all made.Will definitely use it a my daily mantra.Many thanks for all your helpful advise and knowledge

ReplyTherese 26/5/2017 01:35:28 pm

Just sitting in the sun  listening to you speak about acceptance…. it made such sense to me, as in the past when I did nt accept something it felt like going against the grain. Thank you for your calming way.
Hopefully my practice of mindfullness will grow stronger.
Therese Mulreany

Pauline 23/9/2017 12:12:11 pm

Acceptance other half of Mindfulness Difficult for me to let go as u say doesn’t mean u approve or surrender to it makes sense Thank u for video help