What in the World is Radical Acceptance?

Radical= relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough.

Acceptance= the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered.

Radical Acceptance means consenting to receive all of ourselves, including those parts of ourselves we have rejected up to now. It is about the willingness to undertake the lives we are living rather than constantly waiting for the lives we think we should have. What is radical about it is to continue widening the circle of what we can accept to include more and more of ourselves. We may feel at first that we can accept this quality, but certainly not that one. Then, as we grow in practice, we come to discover that our acceptance can be more far-reaching, more thorough. The more we bring this quality of acceptance into our lives and ways of thinking, the more it starts to impact the fundamental nature of our relationship with ourselves. We start to move through the world with a sense of deep relaxation into being just exactly who we are. We feel ourselves centered into the core of ourselves rather than leaning out into trying to be some other way. We come home to ourselves, to the bare reality of who we are. When we live from this place, we have greater access to our gifts and our unique place on this earth.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *