Radical Acceptance

“The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.”
― Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance

From Dialectical Behavior Therapy to Engaged Buddhism to Alcoholics Anonymous, many programs advocate for Radical Acceptance. In order to heal anything, we must first accept our situation.

You ability to radically accept pain is what determines how much suffering you will have because of that pain.

Sound counterintuitive?

I’ve previously posted a study on proof of this in adolescent girls’ bodies, but it has also been studied in adults, too.* As psychologist Jenny Taitz explains in her article for the NYTimes on this subject,

emotional eating can be a response to feeling bad about excess weight, but in fact, once you compassionately let go of berating yourself it can be easier to make healthy food choices.