Acceptance is the ability to assent or agree to the reality of a situation or a person without trying to change anything. Easier said than done! Perhaps acceptance can be seen as the light to its opposite – resistance, frequently expressed as judgement or as a longing for things to be other than they are.
Acceptance can also be an expression of the ability to let go of resentful feelings. This does not mean that we are excusing the bad behaviour or hurtful choices and actions of others. It is a recognition that we do not have to take responsibility for their behaviour by internalising it ourselves. In this way we can move away from a sense of being the victim of others and we begin to prevent their influence of power and control over how we feel. In this way the purpose of acceptance becomes a way that we can make space for ourselves to feel peaceful and healthy about our own choices.
Acceptance is an ability to sit with discomfort, accept its presence and experience the feelings and emotions that arrive with it. In this allowing state we provide ourselves with the opportunity of processing this experience. Once feelings have been processed then another layer of acceptance can be accessed. It becomes a sensation of opening, of relaxing, of being curious, of allowing an awareness of just how much there is to be grateful for in all the challenges that happen as well as in all the good things that surround us and that we have access to. It could also be described as a calm and content state of being. An ability to be in this moment, just as it is – a state of flow.