Don’t try to feel less stressed! Practice mindful acceptance instead…

Don’t try to feel less stressed! Practice mindful acceptance instead…

As Chief Happiness Officer of The Happiness Institute most people expect me to promote happiness at all costs; and to advocate elimination or avoidance of unhappiness, distress and stress.

But I don’t!

I do believe in trying to maximise happiness.

But I also believe that unhappiness, in all its various forms, is normal and appropriate at times.

In addition, it’s important to note that trying to push away or avoid negative emotions such as stress can backfire, causing more of what we don’t really enjoy.

And this article, sums up very nicely how and why the practice of mindful acceptance is a better approach…

via Psychology Today by Melanie Greenberg

An important component of mindfulness is acceptance of inner experience; in other words, the ability to accept negative emotions and thoughts without judging them.  When you get stressed by difficult life events or daily pressures, you may feel anxiety and depressed mood, or have self-critical or worried thoughts. You also may have secondary reactions that exacerbate the stressful feelings. You may automatically believe the negative predictions or views of self without questioning their accuracy, or you may develop aversion to the negative feelings, wanting desperately to be rid of them. You may judge yourself for having the negative mood or insecure thought – seeing it as a sign of character weakness. All of these secondary reactions make you feel worse. On the other hand, if you can mindfully accept whatever thoughts and feelings arise, seeing them as temporary states, you can avoid exacerbating and prolonging their impact.

In a study published last month, researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley studied whether acceptance of inner experience has mental health benefits, independent of other aspects of mindfulness (observing and describing inner experience, non-reactivity, and acting with awareness). The researchers thought that practicing acceptance helped people feel less upset by their daily stressors. Daily stressors are very common and how we respond to them has been shown to affect our long-term happiness and mental health…

…keep reading the full & original article HERE