Learning to Accept Your Thoughts and Emotions: An Introduction to Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Therapy aims to help people accept their thoughts and emotions, rather than trying to avoid or control them. In this blog, we will explore how to practice acceptance of our thoughts and emotions utilising Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT approach).

How can I accept my thoughts or emotions that are causing me so much pain and discomfort?

The first step in accepting your thoughts and emotions is to acknowledge them. Instead of trying to push them away or distract yourself, allow yourself to experience the discomfort. Acceptance does not mean that you have to like what you’re experiencing, but it means that you are willing to open yourself up to it.

Acceptance does not mean that you need to like what you’re experiencing. You can continue to hate it, and yet open yourself up to experience the discomfort.

It’s natural to want to avoid discomfort or pain, but in doing so, we often create more suffering for ourselves. Acceptance means that you’re allowing yourself to experience the discomfort without needing to fix it or get rid of it. You can continue to hate what you’re experiencing, but you’re no longer fighting against it.

Acceptance means that you’re allowing yourself to experience the discomfort without needing to fix it or get rid of it.

When we try to fix or get rid of our thoughts or emotions, we often end up adding more to the pain. Acceptance recognizes that worrying, ruminating, or trying to fix our thoughts or situations may only add more to the pain.

Acceptance recognizes that worrying, ruminating, trying to fix our thoughts or situations may only add more to the pain.

One way to try accepting your difficult emotions or challenging thoughts is by remembering that “thoughts are merely thoughts,” and “I am more than my thoughts and feelings.” This can help you detach from your thoughts and see them as passing events in your mind rather than defining who you are.

Using language to name what we are experiencing in our mind.

When we experience a familiar thought that is a constant in our mind but we know is unhelpful, we can say in our mind or out loud

“here’s the thought again which is telling me I am going to fail,”

“My mind is once again telling me that I am not doing enough.”

By acknowledging the thought and labeling it as unhelpful, we can create some distance from it and prevent it from consuming our attention.

A general push back to the practice of acceptance is: “It doesn’t make me feel better or allow me to fix the issue, what if I don’t want to accept it?”

Remember, acceptance is not there to fix things, but rather to help you build tolerance to emotions, pain, and things that are out of your control. Acceptance can be difficult, but it can help you move forward in life and create a more meaningful existence.

In conclusion, ACT’s acceptance practice can help individuals to tolerate difficult emotions and` build resilience. Accepting thoughts and emotions does not mean that we have to like them, but it means that we are willing to open ourselves up to experiencing them without fighting against them. By practicing acceptance, we can live a more meaningful life by creating space for both joy and suffering.