Radical Acceptance

Are you familiar with the term, "radical acceptance?" Whether you answer yes or no, take a moment to think about what it means to you. As for me, I had a breakthrough experience with it earlier this morning, and I'm excited to share it here.

I've always had a tendency toward introspection, and, as a result, I'd even classify myself as being mostly introverted, which is fine. (There's a lot of great literature out there regarding the benefits [and pitfalls] of introversion. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole right now, but Google it if you're curious.) The problem I've encountered with my introversion, particularly over the past 15 years or so, is that I've reinforced many of my unhelpful, personally restrictive "deep thoughts" and conclusions about myself. The result is that, in service of self-improvement and awareness, I've established a near-automatic denial mechanism against what I've deemed the more undesirable and uncomfortable aspects of my inner life.

In other words, I've spent a lot of time trying to push away or reprogram many of my thoughts, impulses, feelings, and aspects of self -- all because I've labeled them irrational or bad, somehow. I've been aware of this habit for some time now, and it's definitely reaped some important benefits; but now that I've reaped those benefits and continue to repeat the process, it causes me more pain than anything.

What happened this morning, then, was both unexpected and highly welcome. I found myself thinking, and having all sorts of thoughts, feelings, and impulses (par for the course). Inevitably, things started coming up that I habitually try to push away, reject, avoid, or argue with. Instead of doing those things, however, I found myself...how do I put this? It's almost as if I gave each of those things a pat on the back when they came up. Every time something came up, I more or less said to myself, "I accept you (this part of myself), I love you, and you're good. You're part of me, and I like that."

WOW! What a change! I instantly felt lighter, easier, and happier. I saw the good that each of those aspects of myself has been attempting to bring into my life. I saw how they round out my personality, and my humanity.

And that, folks, was my awesome experience with radical acceptance this morning. Thanks for reading!!