Acceptance is difficult for most people. For some, the term even has negative connotations, since acceptance is often mistakenly equated with resignation. Yet the ability to accept something is essential for your mental balance and a fulfilling life. Why this is so and how you can learn acceptance, you will learn in the following article.
When we humans struggle with something or unhappy we tend to relativize or deny the condition. This is understandable, but it does not solve the problem. Acceptance, on the other hand, means looking reality in the eye. You recognize facts and situations as true, no matter how painful they are.
Acceptance plays an important role in almost all areas of life. It is elementary in social interaction with other people. Without acceptance, compliance with social rules and norms would not be possible. This shows that it is an active process: Whether you are willing to accept something is your free decision! This aspect can be used positively.
Let us now turn to the question of why acceptance is so important. Here is a small example: Let's assume that you will never be able to pursue a certain dream job due to physical or mental deficits. If you simply don't accept this, you miss the chance to find other ways of find professional fulfillment. This example can be applied to all transferred to other areas of life.
Acceptance is a useful skill in many ways: it can help you deal with negative changes productively and Reduce stress. Rebelling against situations inwardly takes a lot of strength ... But how can you actually train your acceptance? The following five steps should help you:
Stop fighting off your (negative) thoughts, but allow them to happen. Ideally, you should even write them down. Only in this way can you find out where these thoughts come from. Becoming aware of where the problem lies is the first step towards acceptance.
Analyze your current situation as precisely as possible without embellishing or dramatizing anything. A value-neutral analysis of what you perceive as a problematic situation helps you to sort out your thoughts. Only when you know and accept your problem in its full complexity can you look for constructive solutions.
The following questions can help you with your analysis:
Acceptance does not always come easily. If you notice that internal resistance is looming, a personal Mantra or serenity prayer can help. The important thing is that it feels right for you. The famous saying by Friedrich Oetinger is popular in this context. Feel free to write it on a Post-it that you always carry with you:
"God, give me the Serenity, accepting things I can't change, the courage to change things I can, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other."
No question: You don't like the current situation. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to make a little mental game: Suppose you were to accept the condition. What could you do in this case? In this way, many new possibilities can open up for you that you had not seen before.
Particularly in the case of circumstances that place a great burden on you, a lifelong acceptance may seem utopian. However, to offer inner resistance forever is just as unproductive.
To gradually practice acceptance, an Alcoholics Anonymous trick can help you. Resolve to accept the painful fact just for today. accept. Tomorrow you can rebel again or ignore them. If you have succeeded today, you may succeed for another day. In this way, you learn acceptance step by step until it is hardly difficult for you anymore.
Fear is a vital emotion that protects you from potential harm. However, if fears get out of hand, they can massively restrict your lifestyle. This is especially true if you try to ignore your fears. Instead of disappearing, they steadily increase until, in the worst case, you develop a Anxiety disorder arises.
With acceptance, however, you can manage to keep your Fear and slowly reduce any resulting avoidance behavior. The most important basic rule here is: accept what is! Fears arise when you are afraid of painful experiences or negative consequences because you are struggling with yourself. By accepting yourself with all your current shortcomings, these fears become invalid.
It is also important to accept fears as such in order to overcome them. A proven proverb often quoted by psychologists is: The way out of fear is through fear. By naming your fears, accepting their existence and consciously facing them, you can experience that sometimes bad premonitions do not come true at all.
Acceptance is often mistakenly equated with resignation. This is the main reason why many people are critical of the topic of acceptance or even rebel against it. However, there is a significant difference that you should definitely know.
Resignation means that you give up and do nothing more against your problems and the resulting suffering. While acceptance also implies that you stop inwardly blocking yourself against the painful reality. You accept the suffering: It is what it is and at the moment there is nothing you can do about it.
However, you do not stop looking for solutions for the future. Rather, you think about how you can make the best of your life despite the circumstances. You take new paths that you might not have considered in the past. If you resign, on the other hand, you believe that there are no more prospects. Resignation is synonymous with passivity, whereas acceptance is active.
The feeling of powerlessness is certainly one of the most tormenting emotions at all. We always want to have everything under control and would prefer to plan the events in our lives in advance as best as possible. However, this is a wishful thinking that cannot come true in reality. Life always has surprises in store, which also includes Strokes of fate count
No single person can protect themselves against grief, loss or illness. Accepting that there are things over which you have no control gives you the necessary inner serenity to be productive and happy in the present. Mistakes are also a part of life. No one is perfect, and that's perfectly okay.
However, instead of denying your own shortcomings and mistakes, you should take a closer look at your weaknesses. Only in this way will you have the opportunity to mature inwardly. Control gives you security, but it's the spontaneous challenges that can lead you to Help personal growth. Consequently, it is neither advantageous, let alone possible, to always have everything under control.
Acceptance can be a great challenge. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to learn and deepen this ability. On the other hand, constantly rebelling inwardly against things you can do nothing about robs you of the strength and energy you could use productively. Acceptance therefore helps you to remain more relaxed in stressful situations and to find flexible solutions to problems.
Acceptance also includes the realization that you can't always control everything. Life sometimes takes unplanned turns over which you have no control. Who let go can live happier and more anxiety-free. In addition, acceptance helps you to Overcome fearsby confronting them.
Finally, it should be mentioned again at this point that acceptance is by no means synonymous with resignation. Even if acceptance does mean acknowledging the current unchangeability of an unpleasant situation, it nevertheless implies prospects for the future. connected. In short, acceptance helps you make the best of a difficult situation.
