Radical acceptance just means that you acknowledge reality for what it is. If you accept the reality of the situation, you can stop dwelling on situations you have no control over (and even those you do) and move on with your life.
During a panel this week about the impact of religion on LGBTQIA people—religion as both trauma source and as a resource—I told a few personal stories and reflected back on a time when one of the only things that was helpful to me was the odd, old teaching “Resist not evil.”
RESIST! has become a contemporary rallying cry. But as I wrote in a recent post, hyper-vigilance is no way to live and rest is essential.
I’ve had to learn (and sometimes recognize I’m still learning) how to engage reality without resistance and not ceding my ability to imagine “otherwise.”
It’s not easy to cut arguments short, to not correct every misperception, and to leave others to be as fixed as they choose to be. And yet it’s a lot easier to do that than to spend energy in a reactive interpersonal cycle.
In a reflection on acceptance and contemporary politics, one social worker invites readers to practice “radical acceptance” about the challenges of their week.
Read it and see if there are any strategies you might apply to your own process.