Acceptance For Better Mental Health

This is a simple trick I picked up from Acceptance & Commitment therapy that’s helpful for both in-the-moment anxiety as well as resolving long-term standing anxiety around specific events.

This tool can also be used to resolve any unwanted emotion, sensation, or painful memory.

It works because instead of mentally running away from the sensation or memory, stuffing it down like a tasty bowl of ramen, which increases your fear response over time, you accept it.

This diminishes your body’s threat response by teaching your brain that this sensation, memory, or emotion is safe.

First, you need to identify what it is you want to make safe to your brain. What is the sensation you want to no longer bother you?

Of course, you may have MANY (lol), but you want to do these one at a time.

Acceptance Exercise:

Identify one sensation that’s bothering you, and ask yourself, “Can I accept this?”

Sit with the sensation or memory you're working on and this state of acceptance until your response turns to a “YES!”

Then ask yourself, “Is the sensation still there?”

Answer to yourself yes or no.

If yes, ask yourself again, “Can I accept this?”

Repeat this process until you notice your negative feelings around the memory, emotion, or sensation diminish significantly.

The more you practice the above sequence, the more you train your brain that this “scary” emotion or memory is actually safe, and the less it will bother you.

As always, feel free to reply or comment with any questions, or to send me an update on how you’re doing!

Thank you for sharing Mental Martial Arts with your friends ❤️ 

Love you,

Chris