Why choose emotional acceptance?

Emotional acceptance is a foundational concept of mindfulness, as well as exposure therapy.  But why would you choose to accept difficult emotions instead of fight to eliminate them?

Choosing to make room for distress in our lives is a hard sell, but is critical to unlocking resilience.  When we are focused on minimizing distress, we are in a constant battle to soothe.  We are temporarily shutting down, distracting, appeasing, and otherwise playing games with our nervous system.  When we do these tricks to not feel bad we deny ourselves the opportunity to realize what we can actually tolerate. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder fundamentally springs from an intolerance of distress and a constant need for a sense of safety and control.  

Primitive humans were wired to always react to every perceived danger, but this reactivity does not serve modern humans well.    

In our new world, we need to learn to feel into our discomfort, nonjudgmentally.  We do not have to accept failure, but we must learn tolerance for mistakes.  We have the power to change some of our circumstances, but it is not always helpful and necessary to be constantly fighting to improve. 

Acceptance of emotions not only plays a part in reducing OCD symptoms; but also ultimately leads to an even more important asset: self-acceptance.   

Please reach out to Kairos Wellness Collective for help developing mindfulness skills and emotional acceptance, as part of your anxiety treatment.