The Acceptance Method is the approach I used to recovery from my lifelong anxiety. It is based on the teachings of Dr. Claire Weekes who pioneered acceptance-based recovery. I have incorporated the wisdom and knowledge I gained from my own journey, and from years of helping other sufferers recover.
The method can be summarized in the following steps:
- Face: This is the opposite of avoidance. We must mentally turn and face our thoughts and symptoms head on, learning that they are really a bluff – toothless tigers.
- Accept (& Allow): Acceptance is the opposite of fighting. We basically do nothing about our anxious thoughts and symptoms. We see them, but we don’t analyze them or try to change anything, or work anything out. This is the core of the method.
- Surrender: In addition to accepting, we also surrender by sagging our body physically, and mentally letting everything wash over us – thoughts, symptoms, emotions. We let it all happen.
- Let Time Pass: Recovery takes time, so we must learn not to be in a hurry, nor keep track of progress. We just practice over and over and let time pass.
- Be Kind to Ourselves: We tend to be perfectionists and very hard on ourselves. A key to recovery is to learn how to cut ourselves some slack, employing self-compassion in place of self-judgment.
- Build the Voices of Truth & Acceptance: These right inner voices are the ones that tells us the truth, and accept what is. Without very strong Voices of Truth & Acceptance we are almost certain to return to the anxiety state at some point. Invincible ones are the key to permanent recovery.
Simple, But Not Easy
As you can see, in principle the Acceptance Method is very simple. But is not as easy to learn and ingrain as our way of responding to anxiety as it might seem. Just reading these steps and memorizing them is not sufficient. There is much more we must know and understood if we are to be able to apply this correctly and consistently enough to recover completely.
The challenges and struggles that people face when trying to recover from anxiety are remarkably similar across the board. The way to overcome these difficulties is the same for us all too. This goes beyond any theories. It is practical knowledge that can only be gained by going through all the phases of struggling, succeeding, struggling some more, until finally achieving full and permanent recovery.
Practice and Repetition
The most important part of the method is practice and repetition. We have established some bad habits in the way we think about our anxiety and react to it. These must be changed.
But that isn’t achieved by practicing once and we’ve got it. Nor is it achieved by learning how to practice perfectly (this is impossible). It is done through repetition over a period of time. Lots and lots of imperfect practice will get you to recovery, if you stay at it long enough.